2 The War of the Kings: dragons,calwots,griffons
by Talonclawfange
Summary: The two races Link met while searching for the Dragonlord don't get along, and when griffons get dragged into the picture as well, it results in a huge war between all three races! Can Link end the war by defeating the sadistic new King of calwots?
1. The War of the Kings 1,2,3

buThe War of the Kings/u/b  
  
By: Sonnet A.K.A. TALON  
  
( E-mail me at Talonofdayyahoo.com, but not if you're going to give me sick advertisements! I DONT WANT THEM!! I'M ONLY 16! Just feedback, please.)  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Hyrule, Link, Epona, Zelda, or anything else from Shigeru Miamoto and Nintendo's genius video game: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I wrote this story in dedication to them, since it's from the best video game of all time, created by them. The only things I own are North Hyrule, Chain, Raykel, Calwots and all other things not in the original video game (so don't use em' without asking me and putting that I thought them up). I also wrote this because I like reading, drawing, and, recently, writing fantasy (all talents are given to me by God, so all credit goes to him as well). I think Link is really cool - Good job, Miyamoto!   
  
Note: This story is about 52 pages long and takes place after the Hunt For the Dragonlord, so you should read that story and all the ones preceeding it before you jump into this one, or you'll be confused. Like the others, there's no sexual themes or foul language, but there is violence and blood. By the way, if your confused about how I sometimes put a space between two separated parts of the story and sometimes s, you're about to be more confused by my pathetic explanation. Usually the s mean a change of setting but not time, and the space means the passing of time and maybe setting, but not always. I hope you like this one!  
  
buSection 1  
  
Letters from Leal/u/b  
  
Link sat in the grass, watching the sunset like usual. Raykel sat beside him this time, surprised that he was actually enjoying watching the colorful rays of the disappearing sun.  
  
"So, you do this all the time, Link?" Raykel asked him.  
  
"Yeah. Yesterday I watched it with Zelda, I guess it's sort of a tradition for me."  
  
"Well, that's interesting. I never thought watching the sunset was a very warrior-like thing to do, but now I see it's not so bad. How are you and Chain getting along?"  
  
"Great! He's really cool now that the evil spirit is out of him. I never knew how cool it would feel to have a family...say, where's yours?"  
  
"They live in town. I left my home to train at the castle as soon as I was old enough to do so. That was a long time ago, but I visit them now and then."  
  
"Do you think you can take me to meet them sometime? I think it would be nice."  
  
"Sure. How about tomorrow? I have nothing planned except training with the Royal Guard, like usual."  
  
"Eh, maybe. I have a pretty full day tomorrow. First I'm going to train with Zelda, then when Sohran's done with his training, we were going to teach eachother magic spells. After that, I'm going to take Chain jumping on Epona. He's only been on a horse once when he was a little kid and he didn't like it, so I want to show him how fun it is. After ithat/i I'm going to visit the Gorons like I promised, and when I get back it should be about dinner time."  
  
"Sheesh! I don't know where you find the time to do all that. I suppose I can take you the day after tomorrow, then." Raykel said, his eyes on the last vanishing rays of the gone sun.  
  
"Okay. Well, I'm going back to the castle; you coming?" Link asked as he rose.  
  
"Yes..." Raykel was getting to his feet as Link heard a flapping noise. He looked to the north, and saw a calwot approaching. It was a rather skinny male, but Link figured that only helped it fly faster, and that was essential for a messenger, which this cat obviously was. The black winged, tannish-grey furred calwot reached them in a matter of moments, and landed gracefully in front of Link.  
  
"You're Link, right? My name is Leal, and I have some letters for you! This one's from iTaig,/i the idragon,/i" the young cat said, disgustedly tossing it at Link as if he couldn't stand to hold it any longer. Luckily, Link caught it. "And this one is from Saroe and Coflix," he said, handing the letter to Link. "That will be one hundered rupees for postage, please."  
  
"What? Well I guess we are kinda far from the mountains..." Link said, and gave him the rupees.  
  
"Thank you! Enjoy your letters!" The cat said, and flew away, towards the Stalfos Swords. Raykel turned to Link.  
  
"Do you always carry a hundred rupees with you? Don't you think that's a bit risky?"  
  
"No, I don't carry around a hundred, I carry around five hundred. It's as much as my wallet can carry." Link said. Raykel was silent, staring at him like he was mad. Link was already opening the first letter.  
  
iDear Link,   
  
How are you doing, buddy? How are Raykel, Zelda, and Chain? I finally made up with my dad, and my mom has been back for almost a month, thank you so much for saving her! I really owe you a BIG one! She brought back the fortress with her, and she said it was an ancient castle used by our ancestors! Isn't that cool? Right now it's being fixed up, and my mom says that as soon as it has some more color in it and has been suited to the Royal Dragons' needs, we'll live in it! That's going to be awsome! All thanks to you, Link! Unfortunately, I also have some bad news. The calwots are pretty mad at my dad for accusing them of stealing me, and Feelack and my dad got into a big argument! Our tribes have stopped trading, and my dad says we're probably going to WAR with the calwots! Of course their tribe is no match for ours, but my dad wanted to write to you and the King of Hyrule at the end of my letter to ask you for help anyways. See you sometime!  
  
-The Great Taig/i  
  
biDear Link and King of Hyrule,   
  
Feelack is being very unreasonable and does not understand why I thought he had something to do with the disappearance of my son, Taig. The battle-loving King has declared war on the dragons, and I would like to know if Hyrule will assist the dragon clan. If you decide to help us, as I know you good humans have the sense to do, we could use some metal since the cats have stopped trading it to us. After the dragons, with the help of the humans, defeat the calwots and their unreasonable leader; the dragon clan will be proud to accept your invitation to become part of your mighty kingdom.  
  
-The Great Cirokaal/i/b  
  
"This is terrible, Raykel! The calwot tribe is going to war with the dragon tribe!" Link said (although the dragon and calwot civilizations are called tribes or clans, they are really much bigger than just tribes. There are a few hundred dragons and a couple thousand calwots).  
  
"Not good. What do the calwots say?" Raykel asked.  
  
"I don't know, there isn't enough light to read the other letter now. Let's go inside." Link and Raykel left Royal Field and entered the castle, then found some torchlight to stand under, and Link opened the second letter.  
  
iDear Link,  
  
This is Saroe, and Coflix is with me. We wanted to say 'hi' and see how you're doing; and we both hope that we can visit you soon. I also hope you and your kingdom are doing well, because ours isn't. Feelack is getting very old and senile, and we don't know how much longer he'll live, and to make matters worse, his son Feelock has not returned and the dragons have declared war on us! Cirokaal just could not apologize for thinking that we kidnapped Taig, and Feelack got mad, so the two had a bit of an altercation. Naturally, we aren't trading with the dragons anymore, so Feelack had Coflix and I establish trade with the griffons. The griffons are now our allies, but if you know about griffons, you know that griffons' intelligence is somewhere between calwot and animal. Most can talk, but few can read or write, and only thing they are very good at is battle. Because of this, the King thought it would be useful to have the humans for an ally, so he attatched a dictated note to this one. May you and your friends be healthy!  
  
-Saroe and Coflix /i  
  
iDear King Hyrule and Hero of Time,   
  
Us calwots are very grateful to be trading with such amazing creatures as humans, and you people could be far better allies against Cirokaal than the griffons. I would be pleased if you and your kingdom would join us in our efforts to defeat the dragons. I never did like dragons, especially that stinking Cirokaal! Uh....what was I saying? Oh yeah...I have reconsidered your offer to become part of your kingdom, and the calwots have decided that we will join you if you join us against the dragons. I'm sure all of this nonsense will be corrected when my son Feelock returns! Farewell, formidable humans.  
  
-King of Calwots, Feelack/i  
  
"Oh, this is just SWELL! It sounds like they're going to rip eachother apart! Griffons and calwots against dragons...that will be a terrible battle." Link said worriedly.  
  
"Not to mention both tribes want Hyrule to join them. I wonder what the King will do?" Raykel asked.  
  
"I don't know...I guess I'll show him the letters at dinner, since it's in about five minutes. I'll talk to you tomorrow after training with Zelda, okay?"  
  
"Alright. See you in the courtyard." Raykel walked away, towards the soldiers' barracks, and Link went to dinner.  
  
"Link, Zelda tells me you have something to show me." King Hyrule looked over at Link, sitting a few chairs away.  
  
"Yes, your Majesty. I need to show you two letters I got today from a calwot. Both have notes on the bottom written to you, one from Cirokaal, the other from Feelack. Here they are..." Link took them out and passed them to Zelda, who passed them to Wein (one of the King's personal guards), who began checking them for anything unsafe.  
  
"Just give them to me, Wein! I'm sure they're not bombs or covered in poison!" The King ordered.  
  
"Yes, Your Majesty!" He said, giving them one last suspicious glance and handing them to the King.  
  
"New guards..," the King muttered irritably, snatching the letters. He opened them and read them both. "This is very grave news indeed," he said quietly. "There's no way Hyrule can join either the dragons or the calwots, because whichever we join, the other will be our enemy. Hyrule does not make enemies unless she opposes them directly, and I don't see a very good reason to war with either clan. We must stay neutral, and trade to either both of them or neither of them...or maybe that's not a good idea..." The King sighed, "this will take some time to think over."  
  
"Maybe I will dream about it, father..." Zelda suggested.  
  
"Yes, I have finally learned to trust your prophetic dreams, Zelda. If you have any such dreams on this matter, inform me as soon as possible."  
  
"Yes, father. What are you going to do once you reach a conclusion?" She asked.  
  
"I'll send a letter to both the tribes. One of our trained birds can take it...no, that wouldn't work. It would be killed by those 'shiftbats' Link told me of. Didn't you say they resemble a giant keese with a wolfos head and shiftable appendages?" The King asked Link.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds like a shiftbat." He replied.  
  
"Keese are a bird's bane...so I guess we'll need a sturdier messenger." He looked meaningfully at Link, who had been expecting him to say that.  
  
"Yes, your Majesty. I wanted to go visit my friends, anyway."  
  
"You're such a good subject, Link." The King said, laughing. "I didn't even need to tell you that you were the perfect man for the job. Besides, now that Impa is here, you won't need to worry about Zelda too much."  
  
"That's good to know." Link said, looking at the princess. "I'll go as soon as you want me to, I guess." Link said. The King nodded. Link just hoped the King didn't send him tomorrow, because he was looking forward to doing the things he had planned, especially horse-jumping with his brother.  
  
ubSection 2  
  
The King of Catalin, the Ethereal Forest Again/b/u  
  
"Whhaaaaaaa!" Chain yelled, clinging to Link, as Epona sailed over a five-foot-tall fence. "Riding dragons is nothing like this!" He said, his voice bouncing as Epona landed.  
  
"Good girl!" Link said, patting Epona's neck as she slowed. "I don't think any other horse in Hyrule can jump like you!" Epona neighed happily. Zelda, who was standing to the side watching, asked:  
  
"So Link, how did your training with Sohran earlier go?"  
  
"Great! I taught him Din's Fire and he taught me his tornado spell." Link replied.  
  
"Say, do you think maybe you and Sohran can teach me some magic spells?" Chain asked. "I don't really want to use a sword anymore, since that evil black one was hidden by the King." Chain was wearing a green tunic like Link's (he had insisted that he wear clothes similar to his brother) except it was a lighter shade of green and he had no hat. He still wore his black boots, but had thrown away his gloves, since they had been stained with his brother's blood.  
  
"No problem there, but first you'll have to go to the Great Fairy and get the ability to use magic. The Great Fairy of Magic is really nice, so I'm sure she would bless you. By the way, I think Zelda knows more spells than me and Sohran combined!" Link said, smiling over at her.  
  
"Yes, I guess I could teach him some magic too." She said. "Hey, do either of you know if Cosha had gotten his mind back yet? I forgot to ask my father this morning..."  
  
"I heard he's better then before, but he's still pretty crazy and can't remember a thing; the poor guy." Link said. "Speaking of memory, Chain, I've been meaning to ask you a question. Remember back when we were in the Dragonlord's Fortress and you said you remembered me? How could you remember me if you were just a newborn when you were taken away?"  
  
"I can't explain it, really...but my earliest memory is the one I've been holding on to these past fourteen years. I remember seeing a woman holding a bundle, and I guess that was you. I don't know how I remember what happened so long ago...it's like...well, you can't remember what you had for breakfast twenty days ago, right? But you can remember defeating Ganon like it was yesterday, even though it happened months ago! You just remember important things really well, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Link said. Epona whinnied impatiently, eager to jump over more fences. "Hey Epona, do you think you can jump the six-foot fence with two people on your back?" In response, the horse began racing toward the six-foot fence (some fences had been erected in Royal Field, built specifically for horse jumping. There were ten fences, starting from one foot high, on up to ten feet high). She neighed excitedly as she reached it and sprang into the air. Link and Chain were having alot of fun, and both yelled as the horse flew over the fence, not even slightly touching it. She landed hard, but not too hard, and slowed, finally stopping. She panted as Link patted her shoulder.  
  
"Epona is incredible!" Zelda exclaimed. "Hey, you never took me over the six-foot fence, Link!" She said, wanting to go.  
  
"I didn't know she could do it with two people on her back! Good horse!" He patted her more. "Four extra carrots tonight!" If Epona could move her lips in such a way, she would have been grinning. "Hey girl...I'll give you six carrots if you can make it over the seven-foot fence..." Naturally, the horse began galloping towards it. She got excited with anticipation, but just as she was about to get close to the fence, it seemed to look a lot taller than it had a few moments ago, and she skidded to a stop at the last moment. Link patted her anyway. "Heheh, yeah, if I were a horse I couldn't do that either. I'll still give you five carrots." The horse was quite happy.  
  
"I think it's Zelda's turn." Chain said, seeing the eager look on the princess's face.  
  
"Okay, let's go get her, girl, if you're not too tired." Epona wasn't too tired, so she walked over to Zelda, and Chain dismounted. "Don't forget, we can't jump itoo/i much, because even if Epona is Ms. Superhorse, she still needs some energy to take me to Death Mountain in an hour or two."  
  
"Okay. As long as she takes me over the six-footer I'll be happy! Hey, Link...look over there! Isn't that a calwot?" Zelda pointed to a flying figure high in the air, soaring towards the Stalfos Swords.  
  
"Hey, it is! Why is it here, though?" Link wondered. The cat did not look like a messenger. It was large and black.  
  
"Why don't you go talk to it and offer it a night in the castle? We need to be hospitable to our new allies." Zelda suggested.  
  
"Okay. I just hope the dragons don't take it wrong. Hey Epona, go after that calwot!" The horse raced off, as eager to run as ever. By now the calwot had flown over part of the Ethereal Forest to the Northeast, so Epona ran towards those trees. When she was about to reach the forest, the calwot looked down and spotted her. Realizing her rider wanted to talk, he began slowly decending in a wide circle towards the tree-littered ground. Link got off of Epona as she reached the trees, and went into the forest to meet the descending calwot. Soon he reached the spot under the calwot, and it landed in front of him.  
  
Link was surprised to see that this cat was ivery/i black. It was much blacker than Coflix, and Link thought it must be as black as Feelack! The strange cat was not wearing very calwotish clothing, either. He wore some clothes on his bottom half like a normal calwot male; however, he also wore armor, and Link had never seen a calwot wear armor before. It was made of a darkish metal, and was shiney and spikey. He had golden-yellow eyes, which looked almost menacing...  
  
"What is it, human? For what trivial purpose have you brought me down to your level?" The cat's voice was deep yet young, and had a sharp tone of irritation. iHow rude/i...Link thought, but remembered to extend Zelda's invitation.  
  
"My name is Link, and I wanted to tell you that the princess of Hyrule says you're welcome to stay in the castle and rest if you want. Both her and the King are glad to be allies of Catalin, but I'm just one of their servants, heheh." Link extended a hand to shake. The calwot gripped his neck with it's strong right paw, lifting him off his feet.  
  
"Just who do you think you are, Link?! You are talking to Feelock, Lord of the Calwots! If my idiot father has established trade with some dirty little humans, I'll just have to fix that, wont I? By the way, did you really think I would 'shake your hand', after you brought me down to your level to tell me some worthless information?! That would be like shaking antennaes with an ant! How dare you treat me so direspectfully!!" The cat squeezed Link's neck harder, making Link flinch, but the Hylian had had quite enough of this. He put a hand on the hilt of the Master Sword and gave the cat a threatening look, ready to cut his arm off if need be. But before he could draw the sword, the cat released him and punched his stomach fiercely while he was falling, throwing him into a nearby tree. Link got up, holding his neck and looking more than a little annoyed.  
  
"Ow...hey, what did you do that for? What did I do to you? You can't just go choking people because you think you're better than they are! You're no King..." Link drew his sword.  
  
"Little imbecile! Do you think you can hurt me with that pathetic excuse for a sword? I can slice that thing to pieces!" The cat raised his paw up to his face and spread out his fingers, showing off the armor on them. The darkly gleaming, sharp-looking armor ran up his arm and onto the back of his hand, going all the way to the end of his fingers. The armor ended by coating each of his individual claws with metal, making each one much larger and sharper that normal. "I sharpen these metal claws every day with a combination of diamonds and magic. They are sharp enough that I can draw them through pure steel effortlessly." He grinned, revealing his pointed, feline teeth. "But I won't waste energy slicing you and your sword to ribbons, instead I'll test a new and experimental spell of mine on you - The Internal Blender!" Feelock raised a paw and pointed his palm at Link, then chanted a few words. Nothing happened.  
  
"Internal what? Well, it's not very effective, is it?" Link began to walk towards the cat, who was grinning for some reason, then started to feel something move inside of him. It felt like nothing he had ever experienced before, and he stopped. "What was that...?" Link wondered, then he felt it again, only it was painful this time. It felt like his guts jerking to one side, then twisting around. "Aaaaahhhhh!....What on earth?!" He put a hand on his stomach, then his insides started twisting more, and he screamed again, the disabling pain bringing him to his knees. It felt now as if all of his insides were being twisted and blended, hence the name of the spell. It was extremely painful, and Link dropped his sword, one hand on his stomach, the other on the ground. It went on that way for a few moments, Link screaming, Feelock laughing in evil glee.  
  
"What do you think? It's the perfect spell for torturing. It's extremely painful but although it feels like you're being torn apart, it doesn't cause any real damage except a bit of internal bleeding; but that's not so bad, right? You're lucky I'm not using the Lethal Internal Blender, which really idoes/i blend your insides. It's a good thing I'm in a pleasant mood, isn't it?"  
  
"I can't comprehend how...lucky I am..." Link said sarcastically, a bit of blood dripping from his mouth. Feelock renewed the spell, and Link screamed loudly as the magic did its work for a few moments. Feelock was quite enjoying himself when a very mad Epona jumped over the grounded Link, charging for the cat.  
  
"What?! What does this animal think it's doing?" Feelock said, caught off-guard. The calwot had barely enough time to jump into the air before Epona reached the spot he had been standing miliseconds ago, rearing up and whinnying angrilly. "Oh well, I was about to be on my way, anyways. I'll kill you the next time I see you, Link! Have a nice afternoon, heheh." Epona pawed the ground and snorted, and Feelock finally flew away. Epona walked over to Link, clamping her teeth onto his tunic and dragging him to his feet.  
  
"Ugghhh....Thanks, girl...what would I do without you?" Link felt a little better now (with the exception of a little internal pain) and could stand on his own, so Epona released him. He got on her and she ran back to Chain and the princess, who healed him while he explained what had happened.  
  
"That calwot must be insane, and is certainly not fit to rule anything, especially a whole clan! We have to do something!" Zelda said.  
  
"Hopefully the calwots will recognize him for an evil creature and do something to him when he gets there, but somehow I doubt it." Link said sadly. "They idid/i say that Feelack would die soon, so they're in desperate need of a king...and that cat seemed to be the kind of guy who would take advantage of his kingdom's kinglessness. The calwots might share his idea of calwots being better then other creatures and willingly follow his rule! Who knows what would happen then? He made it very clear that he hates humans!" After Zelda was finished healing Link, one of the Royal Guards came out of the castle, walking over to Link.  
  
"Excuse me sir, the King has requested that you go to his quarters immediately," he said, then left.  
  
"Alright, the King probably has the letters for Cirokaal and Feelack, if he's still alive. I guess we'll have to finish this later, guys." Link said, walking towards the castle.  
  
"Hey, won't Epona jump over fences with just me or Zelda on her back?" Chain inquired.  
  
"Well, I heard she was a pretty wild horse before I won her in a race... you can itry/i to have her go jumping with just you, but I don't know if she'll do it." Link said, then went to the King's quarters.  
  
"Okay, girl...nice horsey..." Chain, said, approaching Epona slowly. She reared up, and raced away. "Well, that could have gone better." he said, watching the horse's swift form dissapear behind a hill. Zelda laughed.  
  
"I tried that once too, but that horse will simply not let any person ride on her alone, except Link or Malon. She likes me, but she still won't let me ride her without Link. Strange, huh?"  
  
"Yeah. I need to get a horse sometime and teach it to jump. That was really fun!" Chain exclaimed.  
  
"I have a white one that can jump, but not as well as Epona. Hey, I bet if you helped out the Stable Master with his chores, he might give you one of the unowned horses. He's a really nice man, and he'll probably like you before he knows you because you're Link's brother. Want to go see him?"  
  
"Sure, that sounds great!" Chain said, and he and Zelda left for the stables.  
  
"Okay, Link, I want you to be extra careful delivering these letters. If the two clans don't get these letters of peace from Hyrule, they may decide to war with us, too. I pray that they will find the wisdom to stop this foolish war...make sure you stop by the kitchen for provisions before you leave, and watch yourself while crossing the Ethereal Forest! Hopefully you will be back in a few days, but if you want to stay in Catalin or the dragon's village for a while and visit, feel free to do so."  
  
"Thanks!" Link said, "I'll try to be quick. Your Majesty, Since I'm leaving immediately, would you mind telling my brother and Zelda where I'm going? I don't want them to worry."  
  
"Of course I'll tell them, Link. Travel safely, and don't take any unnecessary risks!" The King warned.  
  
"Okay. Bye, Your Majesty!" Link, waving, turned towards the door.  
  
"Wait, Link. We are familiar enough with eachother that it sounds strange for you to call me 'Your Majesty'...you may call me by my first name, Daphnes."  
  
"Cool! Bye, Daphnes!" Link left the King's quarters, got some food at the kitchen, and equipped his gear. He went back to North Hyrule, and seeing that Epona, Zelda, and Chain were no longer there, he guessed what had happened, laughing to himself. He called Epona, who came running.  
  
"Looks like we won't be visiting the Gorons after all, girl. King's orders come first...oh well, I wasn't really in the mood to get squashed in a 'Goron Hug', anyway. Will you go with me to the Stalfos Swords?" Link asked, getting on her back. The speedy horse took Link to the forest, but not before leaping over the seven-foot fence (she couldn't resist). When the two got there, Epona slowed to a trot, since the trees were too dense for galloping.   
  
Link experienced a deja vu, once again enjoying the beauty of the forest, which seemed to look exactly the same it had last time he was there. The canopy overhead filtered sunbeams down onto the dead leaf-covered ground. The patches of grass still looked green and pretty in the shadows, and Link heard the songs of various birds and insects. As Epona walked by a large tree, Link looked up and saw a woodpecker on its trunk, carving itself a home in the tree's bark. Link loved this part of the forest, but the back of his mind pulled up a more unpleasant memory: the dangers of the deep parts of the Ethereal Forest.   
  
As Epona trotted on, Link thought of that evil place. The terrible sounds at night, the bones that one could trip on if not cautious, and of course, the shiftbats. Shiftbats had not really been as much of a challenge as the Queen Tree or Vux the last time Link was in the forest, so it would seem that Link had little to worry about, but he had a persisting feeling that the shiftbats were not the strongest of the creatures in the deep places of the forest.  
  
Link enjoyed his pleasant ride in the forest for a few hours, then the sun began to set. The Hylian and his horse had passed the Jagged Beamos long ago, so he figured he had made enough progress to set up camp soon. After the sun was gone and it became dark, he halted Epona and started a camp fire with which he cooked his dinner. He did not need to tie up Epona because he knew she wouldn't run away, and if something did attack his little camp she could defend herself better if she wasn't tied to a tree.  
  
"Hey Epona, I bet you want your carrots now, huh? You probably thought I forgot, didn't you?" In response, Epona walked over to Link, licking his face several times. "Heheh, okay, okay...that's enough of that. Here you go." Link dug the carrots out of his gear, giving them to his horse, who munched them down as quickly as possible. "How can you possibly enjoy your food when you eat so fast?" The contented horse just sat there, looking happy. "Time for bed, girl. Remember how I trained you to watch?" Link asked her. A few weeks ago Link had gone exploring deep into the Lost Woods, looking for a certain fairy. He hadn't found the fairy, but had taught Epona a new trick: how to watch over camp. All he did was train her to stay awake for half the night, keeping alert, then go to sleep while he stayed awake. Epona layed down, keeping her head up. Link sat down beside her, leaning back and resting on her soft saddle, just like they had done in the Lost Woods. For half of the night, Epona stayed awake, carefully watching over her sleeping master, then she awakened him and he sat up, watching for the rest of the night while his horse slept.  
  
Nothing happened during the night, and light illuminated the green forest as the sun finally found it's way over the horizon. Link woke up his horse (after much shaking and yelling) and he ate some breakfast while Epona grazed on the patches of grass growing around their camp. When they were both finished, Link packed up his stuff and they left, Epona's quick trotting taking them deeper into the woods. It was a beautiful morning, and the clouds far above softened the sunlight which filtered through the branches, making the atmosphere very enjoyable. However, Link knew those branches got thicker the deeper he and Epona traveled into the forest. Link stopped thinking about branches when a pack of wolfoses appeared from behind some trees in front of Link and his mount. Link drew his sword, hoping the wolves would get the message and leave, but they looked like half-starved ravenous beasts, and didn't even give the Master Sword a second glance before attacking. He killed the first two which lunged at him, and the third was defeated when Epona kicked it, sending it flying into a tree. Two more ran away in fear, but Link had to wound the last one before it left. He slashed it's back and it ran away as fast as it's legs could carry it, yelping in pain.  
  
Link and Epona continued on, and nothing else happened for a while, except the gradual darkening of the forest; the closing up of the canopy overhead, and the lessening of patches of green grass under spots of sunlight. The increasing silence and appearence of bones, and even a slight mist made the forest less pleasant then before. Link knew he had finally reached the end of the friendly part of the forest. Link hoped he was travelling in the right direction, because if he did not find the safe path through the forest, what would happen? He didn't know, but he did know that Raykel had almost died from being attacked while their group was on the isafe/i path, so the dangerous way must be twice as bad. Link regretted that he hadn't better remembered the best way through the forest during his previous visit.  
  
It kept getting mistier as Link and Epona progressed, reminding Link of his disturbing visit to Ganon's Swamp. The spots of sunlight coming through the branches were almost nonexistant now, and Link knew he was probably nowhere near the safe path, since there had been no mist on or around it whatsoever. The way forward was now very hard to see, with the darkness of the canopy and the setting of the sun, plus the disorienting mist. Link made Epona stop, and since they had traveled far already, he set up his camp for the night (after marking their direction on the ground so they wouldn't get lost). He didn't say a word to his horse as he gave her the usual two carrots (she got two carrots every day, sometimes more if she was very good, sometimes less if she misbehaved, but that was very rare). He also ate his food silently, listening for signs of life in the forbidding forest. Soon the eerie sounds Link knew had been coming began. The first one, the screetching of some monster in indescribable agony, startled Epona. She jumped in fright, then ran over to Link's side, huddling up against him.  
  
"It's okay, girl. Don't worry about the noises unless they're close." His words did not seem to comfort his horse and friend much, for she was still shivering by his side. "Oh come on, girl! How are you going to keep watch or get any sleep if you're this scared of ghost noises from far away?" The horse finally stopped shivering, realizing that she was in no immediate danger. She layed down, and Link leaned on her just as he had last night, trying to ignore the sounds of cracking bones and flesh being torn. "Wake me up if anything sounds close, okay, Epona?" Link said, covering his ears against the moaning of shades.   
  
buSection 3  
  
Wraiths, Ghosts, and Deceptive Monsters/u/b  
  
Link awoke as his head hit the ground, because Epona had stood up. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning, trying to clear the sleep out of his head. The misty, biting, cold of deep night brought him to his senses fully, and he could not prevent himself from shivering. He turned to see why Epona had gotten up, and froze when he saw a ghost standing directly in front of her. The semi-transparent creature almost blended in with the mist, and Link was at first unsure that he was seeing it at all, but it was apparent when its blue, lifeless lips started moving, its right hand raised and pointing at his horse's face. The ghost's whiteish-grey skin was peeling off its body in many places, and eerily floating rags clothed it, as its white and pupil-less eyes stared into Epona's. Link realized the creature was chanting, hypnotizing his horse, and it was because of this monstrosity Epona had stood up without warning. Link jumped up, ready to draw his sword and repel the ghost as well as he could, when a below zero-degree, frosty white hand layed itself on his right shoulder from behind.  
  
Link was frozen in his tracks, literally unable to move. The white hand turned him around, so that he was staring into the lifeless eyes and expressionless face of a rotting ghost. The freezing temperature spread throughout Link's body as he stared, paralyzed, into the eyes of the wraith. He could feel the coldnes slow his blood, and his heart. White mist came from Link's mouth as he was forced to exhale by the creature's sub-zero, suffocating grip on his shoulder. He could only stare into the dead face as he lowered to his knees, his strength failing. iDo something! /iHe told himself urgently, and he tried to move his left arm over his shoulder, where the hilt of the Master Sword could be reached. The ghost's paralyzing stare made it extremely difficult, but eventually his arm, shaking with the effort, reached the sword's hilt. As his hand closed around it, it glowed with white light, and the ghost gripping his shoulder shrank back, raising it half invisible arms to its face; tying to protect itself from the light.   
  
Link could finally breathe, and his body no longer frozen, he stood and drew the sword, and its fully-revealed light sent the ghost flying away, screeching and moaning in pain and the sorrow of a lost soul. Link turned towards the ghost captivating Epona. The ghost had materialized a sword in its dead hand, and was preparing to drive it into the horse, when the light of the Master Sword hit it, having the same effect on this creature as it had had on the last one. As the ghost quickly drifted away, the sub-zero temperature left the camp, and Link put his sword away, surprised at how exhausted he was. Although it was warmer than it had been before, it was still very cold and the ghost's freezing touch had not completely left Link, so he stood shivering a few moments as Epona came to her senses.   
  
"Are you...okay, girl?" Link's shaking voice inquired. Epona walked over to him, rubbing up against him to warm him and herself up. They were both very tired and they layed down again; unfortunately they had been physically drained by the wraiths and fell asleep before they could stop themselves. The last thing Link heard before he fell into darkness was the soft, haunting song of a maiden in the misty forest.  
  
Link woke up just as the sun climbed over the mountains, but he could not see it due to the thickness of the forest. He was about to wake his horse, when he heard the same mistifying singing that he had heard when falling asleep last night. Startled, he looked around the trees, but the mist, although thinner than it had been last night, still covered everything twenty feet away from him in an impenatrable haze. He saw nothing as the singing continued, its soft and strangely enamoring melody making Link want to search for its source.   
  
"Hello? Is someone lost out there?" Link called out, and the singing stopped. Link looked at the mist twenty feet away, directly in front of him, seeing some faint movement. He stopped leaning on Epona's sleeping form and stood, his eyes locked on the mist. Slowly a person appeared, walking at a leisurely pace towards Link. It was a woman of perhaps twenty years of age, with silver hair and light grey eyes. She wore some greenish-gray robes, which hung loosely about her and were rather revealing.  
  
"You heard my singing, adventurer? I am not lost, but you seem to be. My name is Thesaya, the sorceress. Who are you?" She gave him a strange smile as she drew nearer to him, stopping when she was about six feet away. Link stopped looking at her and stared at the ground.   
  
"I really don't know if I should tell a strange woman who lives in a dangerous forest my name," Link said, "but you idid/i tell me yours..."  
  
"Do not worry, I mean you no harm. I live here because I am at peace with the creatures of the forest, but that does not mean I share their intent to destroy intruders. Believe me, if I wanted to kill you I would have already." Link thought a moment, still looking away from the woman.  
  
"My name is Link." he said hesitantly. "And my horse is Epona." Speaking of Epona, she was still fast asleep.  
  
"Why will you not look at me, Link? My face will not turn you to stone." The woman said in her quiet, calm but powerful voice.  
  
"It's not your face I'm avoiding, it's your chest. Would you mind pulling up your shirt or something? It's almost as bad as a Great Fairy..."  
  
"Pull up my shirt?" The woman didn't seem at all offended, just mildly surprised. "You are a strange man, unlike any I've ever met. But if my robes disturb you, I will honor your request." She tied her robes more securely, pulling the top closed.  
  
"Thanks. That's the only thing bad about visiting a Great Fairy." Link said, turning his eyes to her face. "Even if I ask them, they wont put on more clothes! So...why were you singing? If you don't really want anything with me I have to go somewhere..." Link trailed off as the woman started laughing.   
  
"In this forest? I saw how that ghost attacked you last night, nearly killed you, didn't it? I take it you are looking for the safe path through the forest? If you don't find it you will meet many more ghosts."  
  
"Do you know the way to the safe path? I'm going to the mountains."  
  
"Yes, I know. I'll take you through the forest to the mountains...but only if you will do something for me when we get there."  
  
"That sounds fair...what is this 'thing' I must do for you?" Link asked, the woman smiled the kind of smile that makes one nervous.  
  
"I'll tell you when we get there." she said simply.  
  
"What? But...what if it's something I can't...or iwon't/i do?" Link asked.  
  
"Don't worry, I will not ask an impossible task of you. I will ask you to do something that a true warrior is always prepared to do."  
  
"Well...okay. I guess we can leave as soon as my horse and I are done eating breakfast, but first I have to wake her up...say, do you want some food? It's pretty good."  
  
"I...do not eat the sort of things you eat. I am on a very strict diet, and I can guarantee you don't have anything I will eat in your bag."  
  
"Okay, tell me if you change your mind." Link turned to Epona, and leaned down. He grabbed her ear, holding it open as he yelled into it, "Hey, EPONA! WAKE UP!" The horse did not move. "COME ON! TIME TO GET UP!" Epona stirred slightly, snorting and dozing. Link layed both hands on her side, and shook her. "GET UUUUUUUUP!" Finally the horse arose, looking sleepily around. "Hey Epona, it's about time! Meet our new friend, Thesaya." Epona looked over at the woman and jumped when she saw her, ducking behind Link. "Oh c'mon! I though you were a brave horse! She's not a ghost, and she's not going to bite you!" Epona came out slowly, glowering at the woman. Epona then stood between Thesaya and Link, pawing the ground. "Cut it out, girl! What, you don't like Thesaya? She didn't do anything to you! Go and graze so we can leave, she's taking us to the Stalfos Swords." With one final glare at Thesaya, Epona walked off to graze. "Sorry about that. She doesn't trust people easily."  
  
"And you trust them very easily." Thesay observed, giving Link a strange, calm look.   
  
"Well, wouldn't you be offended if I told you to go away because I didn't trust you? I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings." Link said.  
  
"I am just telling you that there are creatures in this forest who will try to deceive you into trusting them, then turn around and kill you after you've done them a favor. But don't worry, I can tell who these monsters are, and I can see that you're not one of them."  
  
"Nope! But hey...it's not like I'll go trusting anything ithat/i easily. I may trust you a little bit, but I'm still on my guard, so if you're one of those monsters you'de better not try anything. I have an evil-repelling sword."  
  
"Your innocently foolish and naive personality would repel evil all by itself..." She muttered under her breath.  
  
"What?" Link said, "I can't hear you."   
  
"Never mind. Just eat so we can go." She said impatiently, so Link did. He waited until Epona was done eating leaves off the low-hanging branches of trees (there was no more grass because there was not enough light for it to grow in that area), and even though she didn't like their taste, she ate her fill quickly enough. The three then left, Link riding on Epona, following the strange woman of magic, Thesaya. While they walked, the mist seemed to get damper, the unpleasant and cold wetness making Link and his horse uncomfortable as it surrounded them. Thesaya didn't seem to even notice it, walking on in silence. After an hour or so, the silence began to get rather old, and Link was about to say something to the strange woman when he heard a noise. It sounded like a moan, and Link looked to the left, where the sound seemed to have come from. He gasped when he saw a ghost standing about fifteen feet away, half hidden in the mist. This one looked a little different from the ones he had seen last night. This ghost didn't look like a rotting zombie, just a semi-transparent, colorless person; with pupils in it's eyes. This one was also less visible than the horrors from last night, various body parts fading in and out of view as Epona walked heedlessly past it. It was a ghost of a little girl.  
  
"Do not worry about ghosts which do not look like they're decomposing. They are merely lost souls, and will not even go near you if you are close to me." Thesaya said, her first words since they had left that morning. iGhosts?/i Link thought, iI only see one.../ibut then he looked around and saw many other ghosts appear, barely visible on the edges of the mist, their gray forms fading and reappearing hauntingly. The three travelers were soon surrounded by the dead people, who varied in size, age, species, and gender. Their moans reached Link's ears and their see-through hands reached out to him, as if begging him to take them along. "These are the memories of people who died in this forest. The forest keeps them, showing them to any who trespass, letting them know what their future will be if they go any further. Luckily, they should start disappearing in a few hours, when we reach the safe path." The sorceress said. The unlikely threesome kept walking, and a few hours after seeing the first ghost, Link saw something else appear out of the mist, in front of Thesaya. It was an enourmous spiderweb.   
  
"Hmmm...this spiderweb wasn't here a week ago...no matter, it does not surprise me. A giant skulltulla (for you non-zelda-players, a skulltulla is a spider who's abdomen resembles a skull) lives to the left of this area, killing any creatures who come here. Many of the ghosts you see around you were killed by this spider of great evil. I am at peace with the spider so it will not attack me, but it would be unfortunate if it attacked you because it sees you as food." She said. They went around the spiderweb and kept walking, deeper into the mist, and more spiderwebs appeared. Soon Link noticed things on the ground, too. They looked like big bundles of spiderweb...then he saw a creature iin/i one of the bundles of spiderweb. It was a deer, sucked dry by a spider and decomposing. The next bundle was a wolfos, and the next... Link gasped as he saw that it was human. It was the decomposing corpse of the little girl he had seen. The sight of her made Link feel very cold, and the creepy feeling reached down to the depths of his soul. The sight also made him angry.  
  
"Thesaya." He called to get her attention.  
  
"Yes?" She halted, turning to Link and waiting expectantly.  
  
"Thesaya, I want you to take me to the giant skulltulla. I cannot allow such an evil killer to go on living, taking the lives of innocent people to preserve its own. I have to destroy it."  
  
"No you don't. You don't know what you're saying. It will kill you, too! This is foolishness!" Thesaya said irritably.  
  
"It killed a little girl...and a bunch of these people, you said so yourself!" Link looked around at the dead and pleading faces of the ghosts. They no longer looked threatening, but begging, not asking Link to take them with him, but to impose justice on the foul creature which had ended their lives. "That's why they're reaching out to me. I have to kill the spider!" Link said, sure of his words.  
  
"Human...I mean, Link...If you fight that spider, it will claim your life. I cannot assist you with my powers, for if I oppose one creature of the forest I oppose them all, and they will attack me from all sides as they would be doing to you if you weren't in my prescence. The spider will entangle you in its web and poison you, so that your insides will slowly liquify, very painfully. It will then wait until your nice and tender and half-alive, then stick its fangs deep into you, and suck away all that is inside of your body. That is what will happen to you."  
  
"If I don't do something, that is what will happen to every other person who gets too close to this spider! Just take me to it. It's not your fault if it kills me. I can't let it live." Thesaya sighed, exasperated. She then started walking left, deeper into the area with spiderwebs. Epona stood still, not wanting to follow her. "Let's go, girl! Thesaya is just going to take me to the spider's lair, not go in herself, so you can stay outside with her if you don't want to fight the spider with me." Epona reluctantly started following the sorceress. After maybe fifteen minutes of walking, the ghosts stopped appearing, and the three companions found an area where the ground was rising up. In the middle of this small hill there was a great hole, and it was covered on all sides by sticky spiderweb. Link dismounted, sensing that this was the lair of his enemy.  
  
"I will wait for twenty minutes. If you don't come back, or I hear you scream as the spider injects you with venom, I'm leaving." Thesaya said coldly.  
  
"Okay. Do you mind if Epona waits with you? She's scared of spiders," Link said.  
  
"She can stay with me. As a last tribute to your dead body, I will take her back to Hyrule so she will not meet the same fate that you are about to meet."  
  
"Very moralizing, aren't you? Thanks for the vote of confidence! But seriously, thank you for offering to take Epona back if I die, but I won't. I'll see you in a few minutes." Link drew his sword, walking into the deep web-surrounded pit. Thesaya shook her head, thinking that Link's confidence would get him killed.  
  
The spider hole stunk of death, and darkness wrapped closely around Link as he entered it. Link evoked the powerful light magic of the Master Sword. The darkness seemed to move as the magic on Link's sword danced up and down the blade; and the shadows, which looked almost alive, stayed back from the ring of light; crouched and ready to spring apon Link, should the light dissapear. iThis must be the deepest, blackest pit of death in the entire forest,/i Link thought. He kept walking, amazed at how big the cave-like pit was. His boots almost got stuck in the spiderweb coating the floor, and he irritably yanked his boots out of it. He was about to start walking again, but stopped as he heard a faint hissing. He saw what he had before mistaken for a stick lying five feet in front of him, move. The sharp, black, two-inch thick leg of the giant skulltulla pulled itself out of the ring of light, into the impenetrable shadows.   
  
Link forced himself not to be scared, trusting in the power of the triforce of courage, and his will to destroy the creature which had murdered hundreds. The light on his sword grew brighter, illuminating the huge spider, with an abdomen as big as a boulder, and eight ten-foot long legs. The spider's eight red eyes glowed as they opened, and yellow poison dripped from its disgustingly long fangs.  
  
"So you're the killer of many of those ghosts. Time to pay for what you've done, monster!" Link pointed his sword at the spider, and it shrank back from its bright light, hissing. Then it opened its mouth, spraying Link with webs. Link, very surprised (he had never seen a skulltulla build its web and had no idea the webs came out of the mouth rather than the abdomen, like a normal spider), couldn't do much but hack at the webs. Eventually he had so much web on him that it pinned him to the ground securely, despite his efforts. The giant spider crawled over to him, and leaned down, preparing to stick its wickedly sharp fangs into Link's neck. Link twisted sharply, and managed to pull enough web free to roll to the side slightly, dodging the fangs. Link then used his gauntlets to break free of the slimey, clinging webs; and jumped to his feet. He swung with his sword at the spider's nearest leg, right next to him. Milky yellow blood poured from the spider's appendage as Link severed it, and the monster backed away.  
  
"No, you won't be appending me to the augmenting pile of deaths you've accumulated!" Link shouted (if Zelda were there with Link, she would be surprised at all the big words he was using). The spider screeched at Link, lunging for his head. Link jumped quickly to the side, severing two more legs as he swung his sword at the spider. It screetched again, this time in pain, and the now five-legged spider stumbled as it turned to Link. The hideous and enraged monster opened it foul mouth, spewing web at Link once again. Link couldn't raise his arms quick enough to prevent some web from hitting his face, and he momentarily dropped his guard as he pulled the sticky webs off his head. The spider chose that moment to jump at Link again, and this time the creature's weight pinned Link, and it quickly leaned down its ugly head, digging its fangs into Link's shoulder.  
  
"Aaahhhhh!" Link yelled as the spider's searing, yellow poison was injected into him. It started painfully spreading immediately, flowing in Link's blood. He managed to give the skulltulla's head a good punch, and it withdrew it's fangs, backing away again. Link got dizzily to his feet, nearly falling twice. The poison was already making him drowzy, its painful burning crawling through his veins. Despite this, he raised his sword defiantly as the spider started crawling over to him. Link gave up the sword idea for a moment, drawing his bow. He knew that if anything could kill the spider quickly, it was a light arrow. Unfortunately, before he could even put an arrow on his bowstring, the spider swept one of its huge, spikey legs into him, knocking him to his back. The webs on the ground clung to him, refusing to let go as the skulltulla lunged for him one last time. Link quickly shot a light arrow into its forehead.  
  
The monster's screetching filled its shadowy hole as it died, thick fluid spilling from the arrow wound. As soon as it was dead, Link put away his bow, sighing in relief. He tore free of the webs clinging to him, and somehow worked up the strength to stand and walk toward the exit of the spider-hole as the skulltulla's poison twisted in his body. After a few moments which seemed like an eternity, Link emerged into the half-light of the Ethereal Forest, where Thesaya and Epona waited.  
  
"What a lucky break for you, Link. You actually managed to beat the spider! I underestimated you. But you're also lucky I'm still here. When I heard you scream I was going to leave, if your animal here didn't prevent me." Thesaya said, smiling.  
  
"Nice work, Epona..." Link mumbled, dropping to one knee.  
  
"It's a good thing healing the spider's poison doesn't count as opposing it," Thesaya said, walking over to Link and putting a slender hand on his shoulder. "Or you would slowly die here, in the middle of this forest." She said a few words, and the poison was gone. "There you go. Now then, off to the safe path, before you get any more stupid heroic ideas." Link agreed and mounted Epona, and they set off once more.  
  
As they walked the ghosts showed up again, but this time there was far less moaning, and most of them were smiling, giving a strangely warm look to their half-invisible faces. The three kept walking for a few hours, and then Link noticed that the mist was starting to clear up. With the fading of the mist, came the fading of the still lost souls and their moans, and goodness knows Link was glad to see the end of ithat/i. Thesaya soon led Epona and Link onto a familiar-looking dirt path.   
  
"We're here. It'll be about one more day until we reach the northen border of the forest, if we find somewhere to camp in four hours..."  
  
"Hey do you know where there's a rock that resembles a like-like when it twists its mouth over to eat you? I camped there once, and nothing attacked me or my companions." Link said.  
  
"Yes. I know of that rock formation, in fact it is just about four hours away from our current position and a great camping spot. We will go there." She said. Epona obediantly kept following her, but the horse still did not like her. Link wondered why his horse felt this way, but remembered hearing from someone that animals can sense evil...  
  
At sunset the three reached the Shifting Like-like, and made camp. Once again, Link offered Thesaya some food.  
  
"No, no...being a sorceress, I can go long periods of time without eating. I assure you that I will be eating a very enjoyable and filling meal tomorrow afternoon, so don't worry about me." Was her only reply. Link shrugged, eating his own food and giving Epona her carrots. The horse was still hungry, so she went and grazed on leaves while Link sat next to the fire, staring at it silently and wondering about Thesaya for a few minutes. He then broke the silence, his curiosity getting the better of him.  
  
"How long have you lived in this forest?" He asked Thesaya. Although she had a trance-like look in her grey eyes, she responded quickly.  
  
"All my life. I was born here." She said, staying completely still except for her lips.  
  
"That's terrible. At least, I think it would be terrible for me. I was also raised in a forest, but it wasn't filled with killer monsters. I mean, my forest was dangerous for outsiders, but to me it was perfectly safe. What happened to your parents?"  
  
"Nosey, aren't we?" She asked, a little annoyed. Link gave her an apologetic look. "No, don't say sorry. I'll tell you this if you stop asking questions. My parents were also raised in this forest, and they passed on their instincts to me, as well as teaching me a few things before they died. Like me, they were at peace with all the animals in the forest...except each other. They killed each other."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. And I though my parents' death was bad..." Link said quietly. "I apologize for prying. I was just really curious about you."  
  
"Didn't I tell you not to appologize? I am an unusual thing, so it is no wonder that you know nothing about me. Anyway, I think it is time to sleep. Even a sorceress sleeps. Would you like me to keep watch?"  
  
"Epona and I can handle it." Link said, still a little unsure of this woman's intent. After all, what could she want with him? Why was she so mysterious and why was she helping him? What was the thing she would ask of him when their journey was at an end? These questions could not be answered now.  
  
"So be it." The woman said, then propped herself up against the Shifting Like-like and fell asleep, not at all bothered by the cold of nightfall. Link waited until his horse and friend returned (shortly after the usual creepy sounds of the forest started) and she layed down, allowing Link to sleep leaning against her for the first half of the night, as usual. Link watched through the second half of the uneventful night, and was grateful when the annoying wailing and bone-cracking sounds of the forest stopped with the coming of dawn. 


	2. The War of the Kings 4,5

buSection 4  
  
The Were-Beast and Dracoulis/u/b  
  
Link was in high spirits as the sun rose, for he knew that today he would probably see Taig again. Despit the young dragon's big ego, Link had missed him, and also looked forward to seeing Saroe and Coflix when his business with the dragons was finished. He got Epona up (once again with much shaking and yelling, which also woke Thesaya up) and the horse went and grazed on leaves while he had breakfast. While he ate, Link looked over at the silent Thesaya, considering offering her food again. She gave him a look that suggested she didn't need anything at the moment, and told him to keep quiet, so he did. When Epona was back Link patted her and mounted, ready to keep going. The sooner they left, the sooner they would reach the end of the Etheral Forest. Thesaya stood, and resumed her role as leader. Epona followed her easily this time, for the horse now almost trusted her.  
  
"So Thesaya...what is it you'll have me do when we reach the boundries of the Ethereal Forest, huh? Are you going to tell me?" Link asked the silver-haired woman.  
  
"I will tell you, warrior, when we get there. Maintain your patience a little longer." She responded softly. Link sighed, his curiosity nagging at him. iCuriosity killed the cat,/i he thought, but it didn't make him feel any better. He felt a sort of uneasiness at the mystery task the woman had planned for him. Something 'a true warrior was always prepared to do'? Link outwardly had a good feeling about those words, but on the inside he was still suspicious of Thesaya's enigmatic favor.  
  
Time passed slowly as they pressed on, and Link just hoped that he wouldn't encounter any pesky shiftbats on his way out of the forest, or any other type of beast for that matter. Link also contemplated how he would get Epona up the side of the Stalfos Swords. The incline was very steep, and Link didn't know if he could have climed it if Taig hadn't flown him to the top last time, so how could Epona possibly climb it? Link remembered that the side of the mountain had trees growing up it, and he thought he might be able to use his hookshot to get up the mountain, then send a dragon down to get Epona, if one was willing. It sounded like a good plan, as long as nothing big attacked Epona while she was waiting. Link knew he could never forgive himself if a shiftbat carried her off.  
  
After quite a few hours of walking, Link noticed the welcome fact that the canopy was thinning. Spots of light became less rare, as did the patches of bright green grass under them. Link saw a bluebird in the distance, and soon he began to hear the pleasant songs of other birds, coupled with the chirping of bugs. iFinally, signs of life other than a big spider or a wolfos!,/i Link thought happily, knowing he would soon be free of the haunting monsters deep in the woods. He did not know that there was still one more monster he had to face, closer than he expected.   
  
Eventually the forest was as it had been when Link enterred it, beautiful and full of life, with light beaming between the branches above him, and Thesaya called a halt.  
  
"By the way your horse has been staring at those patches of grass, I'd say she's hungry. Shall we take a short break?" Epona, who hadn't tasted the sweetness of grass for a couple days, eagerly raced off to a patch after Link dismounted her. The horse quickly gobbled up all the grass she found in one patch, then ran over to the next, going farther away with each patch.  
  
"Don't take too long, Epona!" Link said as his horse disappeared behind some trees, munching on a mouthful of grass. "Funny horse." Link said, "But a very good friend and always dependable."  
  
"Now it is time for you to be dependable, Link." Theysaya said, "And keep your promise, doing me a favor."  
  
"Sure." Link said, glad his curosity would soon be satisfied.   
  
"Do you trust me, Link? Do you believe that I will not harm you?" Thesaya asked, staring into his eyes.  
  
"Uh...I suppose...yeah, you might let a spider kill me, but I don't think you'd attack me yourself." Link replied, wondering if he ireally/i believed that.  
  
"Good. It is time, then. Will you stand up against that tree, please?" She requested.  
  
"That's wierd, but okay." Link said. He walked over to the tree Thesaya was pointing at, leaning up against it. Thesaya smiled a happy smile, raising her hand and pointing at the leaves of the tree.   
  
"Oh tree, friend and ally of mine....." There was a long pause. "Bind him!" She shouted.  
  
"Huh?!" Link was very surprised and a bit angry when vines sprouted out of the sides of the tree, curling around him and holding him fast as he struggled. "What are you doing?!" Link yelled, glaring at Thesaya.  
  
"Don't be so disappointed, warrior. You said you would do this for me, and you will do it. A true warrior is always prepared.....to die." With an evil grin, Thesaya began to transform. Her legs grew long and thin, turning green and growing spikes, as well as her arms. Her finger and toe nails grew and hardened into wicked claws, tipped with slimey purple poison. A long tail with barbs on the end formed, and long spikes emerged from her green and boney back. Her head grew longer and flattened some, until it looked like a snake or lizard's, with long horns. Her red eyes gleamed as her teeth grew into long, purple venom-coated fangs. "Your favor is to stay still, while I, the were-beast, devour your soul!" Thesaya the monster roared.  
  
"Devour my...soul? Thesaya, why are you doing this? Why help me get to the mountains just to eat my soul?" Link inquired.  
  
"Because it is fun. I love finding humans, my favorite food, and playing with them before I destroy them. It is enjoyable for me to trick a human into believing in my words and trusting me, just to see the look of despair on his face as he dies! Ahhahahahaha!" The hideous monster's laughing was rough, sounding like grinding stones.  
  
"This is great! Just about every creature I meet in this forest betrays me, or poisons me, or both! This is getting VERY annoying!" Link growled, struggling some more. Thesaya didn't know that he was perfectly capable of getting free.  
  
"Your irritation will leave with your life. Allow me to give you rest...forever to stay in this forest!" The monster stepped up close to the struggling Link, and extended a poisonous claw, placing it on his forehead. She began chanting. Her chanting stopped as Link used his gauntlets to break the vines and punch her away.  
  
"All right, I don't fight girls, but you're not a girl, just a ravenous monster!" Link yelled, drawing his sword. He noticed a peculiar pain on his forehead, and moved his right hand to it. As he lowered his hand, he saw purple liquid smeared on his fingers, which were now also hurting.  
  
"I was never human, nor will I ever be. Don't let my gender stop you from fighting me. All the more fun for me before I kill you. Me or my venom, that is. Isn't it wonderful how fast it spreads?" Link glared at the beast as it raised an arm, shooting out the spikes on it at Link. He quickly hit them away with his sword, and watched as more spikes grew on Thesaya's arm, to replace the ones that had just been shot at him. Link put away his sword and quickly took out a deku nut, one hand slamming it on the ground while the other covered his eyes. Its bright flash would have stunned Thesaya, if she hadn't had the sense to turn away. The sinewy were-beast jumped at Link, her weight throwing him to the ground. She was about to bite Link's face, but he kicked her off before she could do it. She jumped up, standing before Link.  
  
Link took out the Master Sword and powered it up, performing the spin attack, which knocked the beast away and wounded her. She got to her feet quickly, then leaped onto the branch of a tree above her. She climbed higher into the tree, her green form disappearing into the leaves. Link seached for her, quickly circumspecting the entire area with his eyes, but finding nothing. He heard movement in the branches of a tree to his left, and turned in time to see a few leaves drift to the ground.   
  
"Come out and fight, Thesaya!" Link challenged, and he got his wish. Theysaya jumped down from not the tree to the left of Link, but the tree behind him. She landed silently by his back, grabbing his neck and digging her teeth into his shoulder. Link screamed as the poison-covered teeth dug in, but quickly recovered from the initial surprise, taking Thesaya by the horns and flinging her over his shoulder, into a tree. He put a hand over his shoulder, which was now laced with the purple venom. Some claws had touched Link's neck when the beast had grabbed it, and the claw marks were also filled with the quickly-spreading poison. Link was about to call Epona when Thesaya got up, shooting some more spikes at him. He blocked with his mirror shield, and the spikes flew straight back at Thesaya.   
  
She screamed a twisted screetch as the spikes hit her, tearing through her flesh as easily as they would have done Link's. The monster fell to her knees, her own spikes having mortally wounded her. Link walked slowly over to her, his sword held ready.  
  
"Don't be evil anymore, Thesaya. If you be good I might be able to take you to the dragon village, and ther'es a chance that they could heal us both....uughhh..." Link fell to his knees as the poison sent a wave of pain through his body.  
  
"Never!" The creature screamed, raking Link's leg with her claws. Link had to act quickly before the moster put too much more poison in him, and he drove the Master Sword through the screetching were-beast. Epona showed up as Link withdrew his sword from the monster's corpse. The horse ran quickly over to Link, crouching down so he could easily mount her after sheathing his sword.  
  
"Take me...on to the mountains, girl." Epona quickly obeyed, racing through the trees towards the Stalfos Swords. The horse reached the end of the forest and the beginning of the mountains in minutes. Link had no time to be glad he was out of the forest, knowing that he had to be quick to survive the venom. The first thing he did was take out a fire arrow, shooting it up through the clouds surrounding the Stalfos Sword's peaks. He then slid off of Epona, nearly stumbling as he ran to the base of the mountain. Link could feel the painful venom was getting closer and closer to reaching his heart every second, and he had to reach the dragon village before it did.   
  
"Stay here, Epona. I'll...send a dragon...down to get you." His words were slurred with weakness. He took out his hookshot, and fired it as the highest tree it could hit before reaching the end of its chain. It took all of Link's strength to hold onto the hookshot as it yanked him up to the tree. Link then picked out another high tree, sending his hookshot's hook to it. Again the hook stuck, and the chain pulled Link up to the tree. iAll this trouble for a stinking letter. Daphnes Hyrule really wants to test me, doesn't he?/i Link thought irritably. He was tired, in pain, and sweating all over by the time he sent his hookshot at the seventh tree. The peaks of the Stalfos Swords were very high, and Link had to hookshot six more trees before he finally reached the top.  
  
Link had never been to the dragon village, so he didn't know which way it was, and stood still on the peak, waiting for a few moments, struggling to stay on his feet. Finally he heard the sound he had been waiting for: the flapping of leathery wings. iYeah, my plan worked!/i He thought. Through the mist of the clouds which clung to the mountain, Link saw Taig materialize.  
  
"Link!! It's you! I knew it would be you who shot that fire arrow up here!" Taig landed clumsily thirty feet in front of Link, grinning widely. "I also knew you would visit! The Great Taig can always sense....LINK!?!" Taig was startled when Link collapsed, and ran quickly over to him. "What's that purple stuff?! You're hurt!" Taig quickly picked Link up, positioning the fallen warrior on his back. Taig took off, flying to the right. He flew as fast as his wings could carry him, and was going much faster than the last time Link had to ride on him. In about fifteen minutes, Taig reached the village of the dragons. It was set into the side of an enormous piece of land jutting up from the already tall Stalfos Swords, and was covered by platforms and caves. To the side of the huge peak floated an enormous black building, the former fortress of the Dragonlord. On an especially large platfom sticking out from the peak there rested another big building, constructed from stone. It looked like a huge castle, and Taig flew towards it.  
  
"This peak is my home, the village of the dragons, Dracoulis." Taig said to the semi-conscious Link. He quickly reached the large stone building, and flew straight into its front door, which was wide enough that he didn't have to close his wings. He kept flying straight, until he rached a huge room. Sahoriel and Cirokaal sat in that room, conversing with another important-looking blue dragon. Taig landed in front of his mother, who stopped talking, looking down at her son. "Mom, it's Link! The guy who saved you from the Dragonlord! He's poisoned!" Taig yelled frantically. Sahoriel reached down a claw, and silverish-gold magic came from it, circling down to instantly heal the wounded warrior. He sat up and slid off of Taig's back.   
  
"Thanks Saho....eh, I mean Your Majesty." Link said, bowing. "My horse Epona is at the bottom of this mountain, do you think you could send a dragon to go get her?" Sahoriel turned to the blue dragon. The big (he is considered big because most of the dragons are a little bigger than houses, and he's as big as two houses. The truly big dragons are as big as three houses or larger, like the Royal ones, and the small ones, when full-grown, can be as little as the size of two cows) blue dragon was dwarfed in size by both Sahoriel and her smaller husband, Cirokaal. Sahoriel spoke.  
  
"bWindskiyer, if you are finished talking with the King, you may undertake this task./b" Windskiyer's scales were as blue as the ocean, and his orange eyes turned to his queen as she spoke. His long, black horns had silver bands around them, and sharp black claws were on the ends of his paws. His grey and white wings shimmered in the light coming from a hole in the ceiling (purposely put there to light the room) and his light blue underbelly scales looked very thick. A mildly surprised look came over his face as he answered Sahoriel.  
  
"bI am to honor the request of a human? Well, I have not met a human but you say the ones from Hyrule are very good. Of course I will obey you, my Queen. Farewell, King Cirokaal./b" Windskiyer said, bowing quickly and running out the way Taig and Link had come.   
  
"bSo this is Link./b" Cirokaal observed, turning to the Hylian. "bIt seems you are famous in more civilizations than one, and it is an honor to meet you. Thank you for saving my wife, and returning my son. Welcome to the Town Hall of Dracoulis./b" Cirokaal said. The dragon was two-thirds as big as his wife, and was a deep crimson. Horizontal black stripes covered his body, and his wings were golden-yellow, as well as his tough underbelly scales. Sharp, long orange spikes ran down his spine, and his thin, long, ivory-colored horns were tipped in black. He looked a great deal like Taig.  
  
"It was a pleasure to help Taig, after all he helped me a whole lot, and I would be idead/i if I hadn't rescued Saho...eh, the Queen." Sahoriel laughed, and her breath knocked over Link.  
  
"bIt is so much of a temptation to call me Sahoriel? I know you do not mean it disrespectfully as the Dragonlord did. You may call me by my name, Link/b."  
  
"Thanks!" Link said, getting up. "Are you guys still planning on warring with the calwots?"   
  
"bThose devilish creatures are attacking us at dawn the day after tomorrow. At least, we assume that's the battle plan, because they have not sent a messenger to us in days. They try to shoot down any messenger we send to them. I think Feelack had gone completely mad, or has gone through a seriously bad personality change!/b" Sahoriel roared, once again knocking over Link.   
  
"bSahoriel, watch your breath./b" Cirokaal said to the Queen.   
  
"I think Feelack may not be in power anymore....he may even be dead." Link said solemly. "Of course the calwots wouldn't tell the dragons if their King were about to die..."  
  
"bI see. Well, has King Hyrule decided to join us, then?/b" Sahoriel asked, her breath making Link unsteady. Cirokaal elbowed her. b"Cut it out, Silov! A Queen must speak like   
  
one!/b" Sahoriel growled. This time her breath knocked Link iand/i Taig over.  
  
"Mooooom!" Taig complained, getting off the floor.  
  
"bAlright, alright/b." The dragon reluctantly agreed, trying to talk more quietly.   
  
"iAnyways,/i" Link said, getting to his feet for the third time. "The King hasn't decided if he's going to join you yet. That's why I came...to give you this peace letter." Link took it out, but then realized it was far to small for either Royal Dragon to hold. "Um...want me to read it to you?"  
  
"bDon't be ridiculous! My wife and I may be huge, but we can hold small things, and our perfect eyesight can read the smallest print. Give it here!/b" Cirokaal ordered, surprisingly keeping the loudness of his voice in check.  
  
"No problem..." Link said, walking over to the dragon and putting the puny letter into the larger than wagon-sized hand. The dragon actually managed to bring the letter up to his eyes without letting it blow away or crushing it, and he squinted to read it.   
  
"bThe King does not want to join us OR the calwots? He wants to maintain peace with both tribes!? He should assist us in defeating those iblood-hungry/i CALWOTS!/b"  
  
"Waaaaa!" Link yelled as he was blown across the room by the blast of air.  
  
"bUhh....whoops. Sorry, human./b" Cirokaal apologized.  
  
"It's...okay..." Link got up, rubbing the back of his head.  
  
"Dad, how rude!" Taig growled, running over to Link and putting the confused warrior on his back, then running back over to his parents. "You should respect the King of Hyrule for not joining either us or the calwots. He's obviously a peace-loving King, and doesn't know enough about the situation to aid either clan." Taig pointed out.  
  
"You'll make a great King someday, Taig." Link said. The dragon put a paw behind his head. "Aw, you think so?"  
  
"bHe is right, Cirokaal, Silov./b" Sahoriel said. "bNow enough of this, before we kill something with our breath. I think this exhausted human should get some rest. When he returns home he can take a letter from us, explaining the entire ordeal, why we are warring, and what methods of war us and the calwots will probably use/b."  
  
"You won't have to write down the calwot's side of the story, because I have to go to Catalin tomorrow to give their King a letter anyway. When I do I'll probably get a letter from him, return here, get a letter from you, then go home." Link said.  
  
"bVery well, but I would advise caution if you're going to Catalin. I'll send a dragon in the morning to take you as close to Catalin as he can get without being spotted; for if a calwot sees you associating with dragons, they may execute you./b" Sahoriel said quietly (for a dragon).  
  
"Uh...thanks for the warning." Link said, surprised that she said the calwots would do that, and hoping her words were not true. Link was still on Taig's back, so Taig trotted out of the building with him.  
  
"You don't want to sleep in the Town Hall, a bunch of dragons might push you around because you're small. You can sleep in my personal cave! It's very cozy."  
  
"I though your parents slept in the Town Hall, don't you sleep with them?" Link asked, bracing himself to be taken high over solid ground again when Taig took flight.  
  
"Occasionally, but I have to have my own little spot, y'know? To get away from everyone? I'm a prince, so of course I have my own cave!" Taig had exited the building, and ran off the ledge it was positioned on. He spread his yellow wings, which Link noticed looked a little more golden than when he had flown on the dragon weeks ago. Taig soared through the air, gracefully gliding on its currents, then went higher and closer to the side of the peak called Dracoulis. He quickly found his cave, and began flying towards it. Link stopped clinging to the dragon for a moment to look around the sky at the other dragons flying there. He saw a bright green one with bluish wings close by, and a black and red one flying around a cave at the base of Dracoulis. In the distance he spotted a forest green, shimering dragon, flying alongside a very familiar-looking dragon...  
  
"Hey, is that Dakos over there?" Link asked, looking in Dakos's direction but not even considering removing his hand from Taig's back to point at the black and green dragon.  
  
"Yeah, that's him. He's really nice now, but still kind of weak in character, if you know what I mean...He's kind of jumpy and not very brave. Oh yeah, that black and red dragon you see down there circling around the cave is my friend Faraws. She's flying by the forging cave, that's why it's so big, and she's in charge of making weapons and bands and stuff for the dragons, kind of like a blacksmith, isn't that cool? She made me my golden bracelets." Taig reached his cave, landing clumsily. "Man, I need to work on that..." He growled, as Link jumped off his back. "Well, the bed is in the back, those piles of gold and pillows there." Taig pointed. "And to the side is the hot spring, so you won't be cold, and you can take a bath if you want. Oh yeah, and if you want some food, there's some dried grizzly bear meat and water over there." He said, pointing to the other corner of the large cave. "I'll see you in the morning!"  
  
"Wait, where's Epona?" Link asked.   
  
"Uhh....I'm not sure." Taig said, "I'll go check it out." The dragon left, and a few minutes later, the blue dragon Windskiyer stopped by the cave, dropping off the terrified Epona, who raced over to Link as soon as the dragon was gone. Link petted her, then decided it was time to eat since it was sunset. Link gave Epona her carrots as usual, and ate some dried grizzly which he thought tasted rather good, although it sounded disgusting. After taking a bath, Link found a particularly big pile of pillows amongst the mounds of gold, and his horse and him fell asleep on it, not worrying about watching.  
  
"So this is the traitor?" Feelock looked disgustedly down at Saroe, who was being held at spearpoint by two other calwots. A third guard calwot stood behind and to the right of them, holding Coflix at spearpoint as well.   
  
"I'm no traitor, you're the traitor! All that you're doing is completely contrary to the old King's beliefs! You're lucky he died before you got here, or he would have thrown you in jail!" Saroe yelled. One of her guard calwots poked her side with the spear to shut her up.  
  
"That old fool had no idea what he was doing, and if I'm so bad, why does all of Catalin, except you, follow me? You will be jailed for life for trying to raise a mob against me!"  
  
"Catalin only follows you because they have no other King, and you practically brainwashed them with all that flattery and 'I will be your best King' crap you said in your magical little speech! If the calwots were in their right minds they would know it is completely wrong to enslave our new friends, the griffons, and it's insane to try to conquer the dragons, the humans, and the world!" The guard cat stuck his spear in a little more, but Saroe wasn't finished. "You will never be a good King! Feelack wasn't very smart to start a war with the dragons, but you - completely mad! There's no way we can beat the dragons with a crazy King, and if we do, we'll be too wounded to go to battle with the humans, who never did a single thing to us in the first place! STUPID, I tell you!!"  
  
"Shut up! I will conquer the world, one race at a time!" Feelock hissed, firing a wave of energy at Saroe, who was thrown up against the wall by it (the guards weren't hit because they let go of her and backed up as soon as they saw the King raise his paw at Saroe). This pissed off Coflix, who started trying to get away from his guard. The guard punched him, and threw him before the King.   
  
"This cat was caught associating with that traitor, Saroe. I think he shares the same beleifs as her!" The guard said. Coflix looked up at the King angrilly.  
  
"Is this true, Coflix?" The King asked angrily, knowing his name because he had heard Saroe say it earlier.  
  
"No." Colfix said. Saroe glared at him.  
  
"Why you...traitor!" She yelled.  
  
"It's not true, Feelock. I never shared her beleifs, and I didn't help her try to raise a mob, either!" Coflix said.  
  
"You lying peice of DUNG!" Saroe screamed, but was silent as a guard came over to her, pointing a spear at her face. Coflix turned towards her, a hurt look on his face.   
  
"Fine. Go away, then." Feelock ordered, and Coflix did. "Throw that little traitor Saroe in the dungeon. I'll deal with her later."  
  
"Your kingdom will fall, we'll all be killed by the dragons, and the humans will be enraged!!" Saroe yelled one final time, before the guard yanked her to her feet and took her to the dungeons.  
  
buSection 5  
  
A Rude Welcome/u/b  
  
The next morning Link awoke with a start as Taig shook him.  
  
"Whozair?" Link said, jumping to his feet. Epona and Taig were staring at him. "Oh...Good morning!" Link said.  
  
"It's about time! You're harder to wake up than your horse!" Taig complained.  
  
"Sorry, but I was sleeping really well for the first time in a few days. I'm not usually as hard to wake up as Epona." Link said, smiling at her. Taig laughed.  
  
"Well, the dragon who's going to take you to Catalin, Windskiyer, should be here in a few minutes, so you better eat a quick breakfast if you want one at all. By the way, I don't think it's a good idea for you to take Epona to Catalin. You won't need her anyay, so why don't you leave her here?"  
  
"Won't a dragon eat her? Speaking of Epona and eating, she's probably hungry, so can you get her some grass, please?"  
  
"Don't worry, if she's in my cave no dragon will touch her. We have some grass at the bottom of this peak, so I'll go get some, okay?" With that, Taig ran out of the cave and leaped into the air, diving towards the bottom of the peak. Link ate a little bit of grizzly bear, but not much since he wasn't very hungry for some reason. Taig retured, carrying an armful of grass, which he dumped on the cave floor. Epona ran over to it, happily munching down as much of the great-tasting mountain grass as her mouth could hold. As she took an especially big bite, her cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk's, and Link laughed at her.   
  
"Epona, you'll get sick if you eat too fast!" He said. The horse ignorred him, gulping down mouthfulls of sweet, green grass. A few moments later Windskiyer landed at the entrance to the cave, startling Epona, who was scared of him after yesterday's flight. She ran behind Link, her cheeks still stuffed with grass.   
  
"There you are, Windskiyer. It's a good thing you're brave enough to take Link to Catalin, but then I would expect that from the head General of the Dragon Military." Taig said.  
  
"bThank you, young prince Taig. I am ready to take the human as soon as he is ready to go./b" The blue dragon said. Because he was so big, he had trouble fitting on the ledge outside Taig's cave. Link was ready to go, so he bid farewell to his horse, and went over to Windskiyer, who lifted him in a massive paw, and set him on his back.   
  
"Bye, Taig! See you later, Epona!" Link held on tightly to Windskiyer's huge, muscley back as the dragon lept into the sky, spreading his huge wings. "Not too high!" Link said, worridly looking at the ground. He wondered if he'd ever get over his ridiculous height-phobia, and was irritated that the fact that he had the Triforce of Courage did not help at all.  
  
"bHeheh, don't worry human. I won't drop you./b" Winskiyer said.  
  
"Thanks, idragon./i" Link said, tired of dragons that had a problem with calling him by his name. The dragon laughed.   
  
"bOkay, you win, Link. Sorry about that./b" The dragon said, his huge but swift form speeding away from Dracoulis, into the mist of the low-hanging clouds which always clung to the Stalfos Swords.  
  
"Thanks, that's better, Windskiyer." Link said, struggling to pronounce the name correctly. He must have, because the dragon didn't say anything to correct him. This huge dragon was swifter than any Link had ever ridden, and in about fifteen minutes he began to slow down, knowing they were close to Catalin. The dragon finally stopped, hovering in the air a few moments, listening. He then began circling towards the groud, slowly decending until he made a smooth landing on the earth between some trees. He took Link off his back, and set him down. Link was surprised to find himself standing in snow.  
  
"bFarewell for now, Link. When you are done here, if you do not know the way back to Dracoulis, simply come to this place and shoot a fire arow into the air like you did yesterday, and a dragon will come to you. Be cautious, for I do not know if the calwots will react well to your prescence, even if you did help them out a while ago/b." Windskiyer walked away from Link until he was sure the wind from his wings would not blow him over, then took off gracefully, flying back the way he had come.  
  
Link looked around, admiring the beauty of the snow-covered trees and the soft, churning fog. Although it was snowy it wasn't too cold, and Link enjoyed his walk in the rare (in Hyrule) white precipitation as he drew nearer to Catalin. He didn't have a particularly good feeling about going to Catalin now, after hearing the rumors about its King, and remembering the mean calwot named Feelock he had seen a few days ago. Link hoped the calwots would remember how he had destroyed the monster inhabiting their mines, and also that they had an alliance with Hyrule. He knew he could be walking to his own death if the cats had forgotten about those things.  
  
It was then that Link decided he would do some spywork. He would try to sneak up on some calwots and listen to their conversation for a while. If he could do that, he might be able to figure out what they would do if they came across a Hylian. He kept walking through the snow, and for a while the only sounds were a soft breeze and the crunching of his boots in the snow. Soon he heard some voices up ahead, through the fog. He went around the right side of the voices, walking slowly and as silently as possible. He then crouched and walked through the mist a little more, until he was up against the wall of a small rise, atop which sat two conversing guard calwots.  
  
"This is SO boring! Why is Feelock making us do this? Now that the dragons are scared of getting shot down, they won't come near, and it's not like a human could get here through the forest." A female voice said.   
  
"Are you sure? Didn't you hear the faint sound of wings flapping a few minutes ago? What if it was a dragon, spying on us?" A male voice questioned.  
  
"It was probably just a calwot. You're too paranoid. Besides, even if it was a dragon, we could fire our spears and magic at it and it would scurry away just like that!"  
  
"What if it dropped off a small spy dragon...or the humans are conspiring against us and it dropped off one of those...and it's crawling towards us, ready to cut our throats..." Link heard a thud, and realized the female calwot had hit the male.  
  
"Your so skittish! Scardy-cat! If it was a human we'd just arrest it and take it to the King, and no human could ever sneak up on us!"  
  
"Okay...but you didn't have to ihit/i me..." The male whined. Link struggled to keep himself from laughing. He knew it was time to go, because if these cats saw him he would be taken strait to Feelock, who had promised to kill him last time they met. Quietly Link turned around, ready to sneak away. A spear pressed up against his neck as he turned.  
  
"Caught you, human spy! Did you think you could get away with sneaking up on our friends, you slime?" A tiger-striped female calwot pressed her spear into Link a little more, making him back up. The cat next to her was skinny and grayish brown, and Link recognized him. It was Leal. The cats on the rise heard the commotion below, and flew down.  
  
"I KNEW IT! There WAS a human sneaking up on us!! I itold/i you, iwhy/i didn't you listen to me?" The whiney red male asked his partner.  
  
"Shaddap!" His calico-looking companion said, hitting him again, making him whine.  
  
"Leal! C'mon...you know I'm not a bad human!" Link said to the cat.  
  
"Sorry, Link. The new King's orders say all captured humans or dragons have to be taken to him. I'll tell him you're good, but I don't think he'll listen..." Leal said.  
  
"Leal, you KNOW this human?! Traitor!" The tigerish female cat hissed.  
  
"No, he just delivered letters to me, it's not like he betrayed Catalin." Link said. The tiger-striped cat punched him in the gut, then pushed him to the ground.   
  
"I didn't ask for your opinion!" The female cat turned Link over while the others, except Leal, pointed their spears at him. She tied his hands behind his back, and took the Master Sword off him. She also noticed how pretty the Golden Gauntlets were (non-Zelda-players: the gauntlets go over Link's other gloves, and they're made of gold with a ruby on each one), and took them off as well.  
  
"That's not all his equipment." The whiney male said to the tigerish one. "I smell a magic bag! One of those bags which carries a bunch of stuff but is really small and weighs alot, and gives you whatever you think of when you reach into it!" Of course, he was speaking of the bag Link kept all his other stuff in, like his hookshot, bow, and bombs, etc. The female, still holding Link down, quickly found the bag and removed it. iGreat, nice going, Link!/i He scolded himself. iNow what on earth am I going to do? If I try to get away they'll take my head off with those spears.../iLink could do nothing as the tiger female yanked him to his feet and pushed him ahead of her, keeping a spear at his back as the group of five walked to Catalin.  
  
They walked up a hill, and the snow disappeared as they reached the calwot village. They walked past numerous house-sized huts and buildings, and many huge trees which had houses in them. They finally came to the big building Feelack had been in the last time Link was in Catalin, but of course he didn't expect to see the old King there this time. As he came into the throne room, he saw Feelock seated apon the metal throne of his father. The moment the new King saw Link, he began laughing in a disturbingly sadistic manner.  
  
"Aaaahhahahahaaa! I never thought I would see you again, messenger of the Royal Family! That family of Hyrule will soon fall under my power and wrath, heheh. Why have you come here? You knew I would kill you." The cat asked, grinning down at Link, who was shifting uncomfortably because of the spear pressed into his back.  
  
"I came to give you a letter, not lay seige to your village!" Link said irritably.  
  
"Is that so? Well, you can burn that letter, because I will conquer Hyrule no matter what its King proposes." A young griffon which was chained to the side of the King's throne squawked, glaring at Feelock.  
  
"I hope Hyrule, whatever it is, tears you and your cruel gang of cats to shreds!" The griffon said, pulling on its chain. The King gave it a small shock, and it went silent. Link, who had never seen a griffon before, stared at the poor beast.  
  
"Well, what terribly painful and slow death should I impose upon our little visitor?" The King thought a moment, stroking his whiskers in a similar manner to what his father had done. "Oh, I'm too busy to decide now. Throw him in the dungeons, and I'll think up a death for him later. Make sure he is not comfortable...you know what I mean." Feelock said, grinning to show off his very white, very sharp, cat teeth.  
  
"You heard him human, off to the dungeon with you!" The tiger cat said, roughly grabbing Link's shoulder and directing him to the exit.  
  
"Feelock....Link hasn't done anything bad..." Leal muttered.  
  
"Keep your trap shut or you'll join him in his fate, Leal!" Feelock hissed. Leal obeyed. The tiger female soon had Link at the entrance to the dungeons, and as she got to the dungeon guards, she turned him over to them.  
  
"Make sure he 'is not comfortable'" she said, and the guard grinned. iHow have the calwots become so cruel?/i Link wondered, ithe last time I was here they were rather nice...that King must have done something to them. Where's Saroe and Coflix?/i The grinning dungeon guard layed a paw on Link's arm, and the tiger-stripped female left.  
  
"See you later, Tarisla. Human...I must show you what happens to any who try to escape the dungeons. I have to give this little demonstration to all prisoners, so they know not to try and escape!" The cat sent a bolt of electricity into Link's arm, but Link pulled away before it hurt him too much. He kicked the cat's face (with much difficulty, since the cat was taller than him) then turned to deal with the other one, but that one was too quick, kicking Link in the stomach hard. Link was thrown to the ground, the air knocked out of him. The first cat picked him up roughly, shocking him again, but with more volts. The calwot was pretty pissed, and didn't stop until Link was nearly unconcious. The cat then dragged Link to a cell, and threw him unceremoniously into it. The second calwot came in and untied Link's hands, but then picked up a big shackle which was chained to the wall. He put it on Link's neck, and tightened it until it was quite hard for Link to breathe.  
  
"Sorry kid, but it's the King's orders that you can't be comfortable. I hate to think about what he's going to do with you." The cat then left the cell, locking it, and both cats went back to the dungeon entrance. Link pulled on the tight metal ring, but it didn't help any, and he knew he would make himself bleed if he didn't stop, so he did.  
  
"Blast!" He yelled hoarsley, thinking he could very well be doomed.  
  
"Link, is that you?" Link heard a familiar voice in the cell past the one on the right of his, but could not see it (the cells were separated by stone walls, not bars).  
  
"Saroe?" Link managed to speak.  
  
"Yes, it is you! I mean...it's too bad you're in here. You sound choked...did they put a shackle on your neck?" Saroe asked. She was not chained to a wall, only locked in her cell.  
  
"Yeah..." Link said, coughing. "Does the King do this to a lot of cats, too? Why are you locked up?"  
  
"It's not good that he chained you like that, Link. If he makes you 'not comfortable' like that, it probably means you'll be killed tomorrow morning. Man, we have to do something! Stupid Coflix, why is he such a traitor?" Saroe growled to herself.  
  
"Coflix betrayed you? That stinks...but what did you do to get in here?" he asked a second time, not able to resist the temptation of pulling on the tight shackle again.  
  
"Me? I opposed the King. I didn't agree with his ideas. iThat/i was my crime!" She sounded very angry. "He enslaved griffons as soon as he got here, and after he's done killing Cirokaal and conquering the dragons, if he can, then he wants to imprison them and conquer Hyrule! When he's killed all the humans, because he won't even enslave them, he'll go for the Zoras, Gorons...eventually the whole world. Sheesh, I would rather have a idemocracy/i than that ruthless King! He is completely mad, and seems to have successfully infected most of Catalin with the same insanity."   
  
"How on earth can someone be so cruelly ambitious?...Can Feelock possibly accomplish all this?"  
  
"Well, despite what I told him when he imprisoned me in here, I think he can do it. He's really a rather smart, but twisted, cat. I spied on him and he has this plan to defeat the dragons...first he's going to send a wave of blood-crazed, sharp-clawed, griffons at them...who are skilled in battle, and could probably take down the dragons' first wave on speed and rage alone. Like I said in my letter, griffons are extremely fierce when fighting, unless of course something is wrong with their brain...Anyway, while that's taking place, he'll send some of his stealth calwots behind the dragons, while making the wind blow in the right direction so the dragons can't smell the cats. They will shoot poisonous magic arrows into the dragons, which will kill a dragon in a matter of minutes if it so much as bounces off their scales. If all the dragons aren't exterminated by that, Feelock will send the rest of the griffons and a wave of death spell-wielding calwots with magic anti-dragonfire shields; and when I say dragonfire, I mean anything that can come out of a dragon's mouth. Those shields are extremely hard to make, but Feelock's power is incredible, and he made hundreds of them, as well as hundreds of those poison arrows I mentioned. By then there should only be a few dragons left: the reserves, and the really big ones which haven't been killed. Feelock will send a whole lot of calwots will powerful trap spells to capture the remaining dragons, and force them to do his will and aid him in his evil campaign against the world."  
  
"That cat really is a crazy genius..." Link said, still pulling on the irksome ring.  
  
"That's not the end of it! Since the King and Queen dragons will obviously be too powerful for him to completely control, he's going to torture them for fun until they die, and feed their corpses to the other imprisoned dragons! Isn't that terrible? He'll then use the dragons and griffons to completely overrun the humans and capture many of them, just so he can watch one die every morning while he's eating his breakfast. Oh, he's not just going to watch, he's going to force the other captive humans to watch, too. After he's brutally murdered all the humans, the other races of Hyrule will be pretty pissed, so he's going to kill those who are weak and capture those who are strong for his own twisted uses. He will then have amassed an army of such strength that nothing in the world could possibly stand against him...of course I don't really know because I've never seen much of the world...but who could stand against a couple thousand calwots, maybe a hundred huge dragons, plus fast zoras, strong gorons, sharpshooting dekus, cruel gerudos, if he doesn't count them as humans and kill them, and battle-tested griffons? I don't think anything can."  
  
"Me neither. I wish there was something I could do...I came to deliver a letter, but things didn't turn out quite the way I expected. Someone has to get Feelock out of power!" Link stopped pulling on the metal ring when a drop of blood came from the spot on his neck it was digging into most. Saroe was silent, thinking if there was any way to get out of the dungeon. As far as she knew, no one had ever escaped, and it seemed unlikely that they were going to.   
  
"Did you bring a weapon at all? Maybe I could pick the lock in a few hours if I had something sharp and longer then my claws. It would be difficult..." Sahroe said.  
  
"They did forget to take my dagger off me." Link tried to stand up to go to the bars and throw it to Saroe, but the chain was too short to even permit him to stand. "How can I give it to you?"   
  
"There isn't a way unless you can stick your arm through the bars. Man, this SUCKS!" Saroe yelled. "They probably took your sword and shield to the armory, and your other stuff to a Cimtu's weapon shop, he sells all sorts of weird things. Well, so much for that idea. I'll try to think of something else...tell me if you come up with anything." She said, trying to ignore the sorrow Link's loud and ragged breathing caused her. Link searched his mind for a plan, and decided to try and pick the lock on his shakle with the dagger, but he didn't know how, and almost broke his dagger trying. He just sat, growing tired because of the strain of drawing breath, and tried to pick the lock less forcefully. The cat and Hylian sat a while in silence, neither able to come up with anything. After about five hours Link fell asleep, and Saroe lapsed into a half-awere trance of boredness and hopelessness. Soon Link awoke because the stupid ring was choking him, and he heard footsteps. He quickly put away the dagger that was still in his hand, and heard Saroe hiss as Feelock stepped in front of his cell.  
  
"Comfy, Link? Is that ring too loose? I didn't think so, heheh." The cat mocked.  
  
"Jerk..." Link said, coughing.  
  
"Well well, aren't we eager to die? I'm not feeling very creative today, so you'll be dying a less slow and painful death than I originally intended, lucky you. You're going to hang tomorrow at dawn." He said with evil happiness.  
  
"How cliche is that?" Saroe muttered. Feelock ignorred her.  
  
"Heheh...I look forward to seeing you gasp for air as the rope is pulled taught by your bodyweight..."  
  
"And I can only imagine how it must feel to be as insane as you." Link said quietly, glaring daggers at the cat.  
  
"Heheh...see you at dawn, dead man. Or should I say boy? Later, boy." Feelock left, leaving an ominous atmosphere behind him.   
  
"This is going to really suck...I don't fear death, but I always thought of hanging as one of my least favorite ways it could happen..." Link softly commented.  
  
"I'm sorry, Link...I should have attacked Feelock the first moment I saw him.." Saroe said. Link shook his head, remaining quiet. He regretted he couldn't see his friends one last time.   
  
"Well...why don't you go back to sleep? Then you won't have to think about it. I'll think of a plan of escape while you're resting." The cat said. Link laughed as well as he could with the metal ring on him.  
  
"That's nice for you to say, but I don't think we're getting out of here without external help. I can't sleep now..." Link sat in silence, searching his mind one last time for a plan. He couldn't just give up...but was there a way to get out? He could not think of one. The silence went on, only broken by the crackling of the torch and Link's labored breathing. They sat for a long while, but how long, Link could not tell...maybe minutes, maybe hours. Eventually he managed to drift off, sleeping fitfully on the cold stone. Once again he woke to the sounds of footsteps. He had no idea what time it was, maybe dawn. Once again he heard Saroe hiss as the footsteps grew nearer, but even louder than last time.  
  
bSilov/b is a dragon word meaning 'One I Love' that married dragons affectionately call eachother.  
  
sorry this one's so short! I'll update real soon, though. I hope you're liking the story so far! -Talonclawfange 


	3. The War of the Kings 6,7

buSection 6  
  
Coflix and the Armory/u/b  
  
"Coflixxxx! Why are iyou/i here?!" Saroe growled. Coflix didn't talk to her and walked past her cell, looking into Link's. He stood a few moments in silence, then spoke.  
  
"So...is it true? The King is going to hang you when the sun rises?" Coflix asked.  
  
"As far as I know." Link said, not even bothering to show his anger at Coflix for betraying Saroe.  
  
"You'll enjoy that, won't you?!" Saroe accused, "Feelock gave you the same malicious character as everyone else, didn't he, you-"  
  
"I won't enjoy seeing Link hang, because the event will never take place." Coflix said quietly. Saroe went silent and cocked her head to one side, very confused. For once, she couldn't find anything to say. "He won't be here when the executioner comes for him in the morning. I'm busting you two out tonight...now."  
  
"Coflix? Did I hear you say what I thought you said?" A big smile covered Saroe's face, but no one could see it.  
  
"You heard right." Coflix said, pulling a key from his belt. "Did you think I really betrayed you? Do you think so lowly of me?" Coflix sounded hurt.  
  
"I'm sorry...I was so mad at Feelock when I heard you say you weren't with me that I reacted without thinking, letting my anger skyrocket. I am a fool." She said apologetically.  
  
"No, you're not. Besides, if you didn't put on such a good show, Feelock might have thrown me in jail with you. I knew when we were taken to his quarters that he would incarcerate you, so I knew I had to lie about knowing you so I could rescue you later. Sometimes deception is more wise than honesty, my friend." He began unlocking Link's cell.  
  
"Heheh...whatever you say, buddy. I'm glad I was wrong about you." Saroe said happily. Coflix got into Link's cell, then walked over to him, unlocking the metal ring. Link breathed deeply in gratitude as the ring came off.  
  
"Whew...thank you, that's so much better." Link said, and Coflix smiled. Link had a reddish mark where the ring had been, but didn't care as long as it was off. After he was done with Link, Coflix walked over to Saroe's cell, unlocking it. "Hey Saroe...why couldn't you use your magic to get out of here?" Link inquired.  
  
"Because inside the dungeons there is a magic seal, or a master spell which prevents any other spells from being cast." She answered, stepping out of her cell and close to Coflix. The male calwot was quite surprised when she purred and licked his snout a few times. "Thank you, Coflix..."  
  
"Uh...y-y....your welcome." He studdered. "Ahem...we have to get Link out of Catalin now..."  
  
"Not a chance." Link said. "I appreciate it, but I can't let myself leave until something is done about Feelock, and I'm going to try to do that something; but I have to get my sword first." Link said. "Could one of you be so kind as to tell me where the armory is?"  
  
"Tell you? We're going with you!" Saroe declared.  
  
"Same old Saroe..." Coflix said, shaking his head. "Yeah, we'll go with you. Follow me, I know a back way out of here." Coflix started walking away from the cells, deeper into the dungeons. Saroe and Link followed in silence, both wondering what 'back way' the cat spoke of. After a while they left the hall with cells in it, and came into a new room. There were some storage barrels in the corner of this room, and Coflix rolled one aside, revealing a trap door. He pulled it open and leapt in, his two friends following.  
  
"How did you find out about this place?" Saroe asked as darkness enveloped them. Unlike Link, the two calwots had good sight in the dark, so Saroe put a paw-like hand on Link's shoulder to guide him.  
  
"I overheard the two guards talking about it before I knocked them out and took the key. Guards will be everywhere as soon as they wake up...but those knuckle heads were so dumb that they spoke not only of where that trap door was, but which way to go when you get through it: left, left, right, left, straight, right, right." The cat said, refreshing his own memory as well as telling the others. The Link and Saroe walked behind Coflix as he followed the instructions the guards had talked about. They had been walking for aproximately half an hour when they made the last right. The companions found themselves at a dead end, with no ladder on the wall or even a trap door above them.   
  
"Oh this is great!" Coflix growled. "Did we make a wrong turn?"  
  
"We went the way you said. Maybe you remembered it wrong." Saroe suggested.  
  
"Or maybe not." Link said, taking out his Eye of Truth (for you people who haven't played Zelda, the Eye is a magnifying glass-shaped thing that allows you to see through fake walls and see hidden things when you look though it). Because Link couldn't see a thing whether he looked into the Eye or not, he gave it to Saroe. He had gotten it improved by a Great Fairy a while ago so that using it did not require magic like it had before, so the magic seal did not prevent Saroe from using it. She looked through the Eye at the ceiling, and sure enough, the ceiling was a fake illusion. There was a ledge a ways up, so Saroe let Coflix look through the Eye to see the ledge, then gave it back to Link. The cats both took one of Link's arms, and flew up through the fake ceiling, onto the ledge. In front of them the cats saw a ladder, and Coflix climbed up it, opening a wooden trap door he found at the top. He climbed out, and the female cat and Hylian followed. They were now behind the dungeon building, Coflix explained, and the armory wasn't far away. Link looked around, wondering where the guards were.  
  
The hard-packed dirt streets of Catalin were lit by the moon, and the many lamp-torches erected around the village. Link and the cats suddenly heard shouting, and pressed themselves up against the wall as a trio of guard calwots came from behind the corner of the building, running right past them without even looking around, yelling: 'Kill the escaped prisoner!', 'Dirty human!', 'Capture the stupid traitor calwots!'. Their voices faded as they ran behind some huts, and Saroe, Coflix, and Link heard more shouting, in a different direction.  
  
"Great, the whole city is on patrol now!" Coflix growled. "At least most of the civilian calwots are asleep, and if every guard cat is running around looking for us, there can't be many of them at the armory. Let's go!" Coflix ran to the building next to the dungeon building, staying in the shadows, and Saroe and Link ran after him. After a few more minutes of sneaking around, the three managed to get behind the building three buildings away from the armory before they were spotted. The three of them were crouching in the shadows of the house they were next to, when a girl calwot leaned her head out of a window above them and looked down, gasping as she saw them.  
  
"Guards!" She cried shrilly, "The traitors are here! TRAITORS!!" She ducked back into her window as Saroe threw a rock at her, but then the three had to leave, running down a side street. As they rushed by the next hut, a group of guards saw them, yelling in alarm. They turned down another street, running as fast as possible. After the next turn, Coflix grabbed Link and flew straight up, landing on the roof of a building and crounching, and Saroe quickly followed. As the guards turned the corner, they stopped short, seeing nothing.  
  
"The human! I see the human!" A cat yelled somewhere (though it obviously too far away to see Link, it was probably just yelling to get attention) and the guards ran off in that direction. The three 'fugitives' jumped off the roof, sneaking past two other buildings and continuing to run silently in the shadows, until the armory was in sight. As they were about to run past the corner of the last building, they heard guard voices, right behind the corner in front of them. There was no way the three friends could run away without being seen or caught. An idea struck Coflix like lightening, and he quickly pushed Link and Saroe into the shadows, behind some boxes that were sitting around. Coflix knew he was not a popular cat, and many calwots had never seen him. When the dungeon guards had described him to the rest of the guards, the description could not have been more specific than 'a seven foot tall black male' and there were many of those in Catalin. If he put on a good show, these cats might not recognize him and mistake him for one of their own, or a citizen. As the guard calwots came around the corner, they skidded to a stop, seeing Coflix.  
  
"Quick, men! The human and his two dirty traitor friends ran that way! You'd better go and get them before they beat another cat up like they did to me! Go! Move, move, move!" Coflix yelled. Three of the four stupid guards ran like the wind in the direction Coflix was pointing, but the remaining one was not so dumb.  
  
"Hey, there's supposed to be a black male with the human-" The guard didn't say another word as Coflix punched him hard in the stomach. The cat fell to his back, and Coflix quickly cast an unconscious spell on him before he could sound an alarm. Coflix looked around to check if anyone had seen him, then beckoned Link and Saroe to follow and ran with them to the armory. They ducked into the shadows of the armory's doorway as they got there, panting.  
  
"Nice save." Saroe said to Coflix. "Link, do you still have your dagger?" Link pulled it out of his boot, handing it to her. The expert lock-picking cat quickly opened the magic-proof lock on the armory door, and the three slid inside, leaving the chaotic yelling and running of the village behind them. "I think I'd better stay here in case guards notice the lock is open and come in." Saroe said, closing the door and giving Link his dagger.  
  
"You think you can handle three or four guards by yourself?" Colfix asked. "I'd better stay with you. Link, go find your sword and shield so we can get out of here." Link nodded, wondering what would have happened to him without Coflix's guile and loyalty. He ran off into the dark armory, down a large hall with many rooms branching off from it. He checked all the rooms as he passed, and some had forges in them, others had heaps of freshly mined metal, and still others had piles of old, rusted weapons. Finally he came to the last door, which had an ornate sign over it, reading: 'Welcome to the Finest Weapon Store in Catalin!' Link slowly pushed open the door, and it was so dark inside that he had to feel along the wall for a torch to light. He found one and took it down, lighting it on fire the same way he did fire arrows. Unfortunately, the torch woke up the armorer calwot, who was sleeping in his store in case anything broke in to steal his new most expensive sword: the Master Sword, and his new finest shield: the Mirror Shield.  
  
"Hey, stop right there! Get out of my store!" The cat yelled, jumping up and grabbing a pike from the wall. "A human?! How did you get out of prison?!" Link, not answering, ran over to the closest wall, taking a sword from it.   
  
"I came to get my sword back," Link said, eying the Master Sword meanigfully, which was laying with the Mirror Shield behind the white male armorer calwot.  
  
"This is my new most valuable sword because of its magical abilities! You can't take it away!" The cat said, jumping at Link with his pike aimed at his chest. Link barely had time to jump to the side as the quick calwot thrusted the pike into the spot he had been standing milliseconds ago. Link grabed the pike's handle with his free right hand, yanking it out of the cat's hands and throwing into a wall. "Yikes! Hey, cool it! You can have your sword back, and your shield, too!" The cat said, raising his arms in surrender. The cat slowly walked back over to the Master Sword, and picked it up with the shield, bringing them over to Link. "Catch!" The cat said, and Link had to drop the sword he was holding to catch his sword and shield. While his arms were busy with that, the white calwot jumped forward, delivering a strong punch to his stomach. Link dropped his stuff and the cat shoved him over, pinning him to the ground.  
  
"Ow!" Link tried to break free of the cat's grasp as his claws dug into Link's wrists. The cat let go of Link's left wrist, rasing his arm to punch Link across the face a few times. Some blood came from Link's lip, and as the cat prepared to hit him again Link brought up his left hand, catching the cat's fist. Link kicked the armorer calwot's stomach, and as the cat flinched in pain, Link got to his feet and threw the cat into a nearby wall. The calwot didn't get up, he was knocked out, so Link picked up the Master Sword and Mirror Shield, equipping them and running back to where his friends were. There were four unconscious guards lying around their feet, but Saroe and Coflix seemed unharmed as they smiled in greeting.  
  
"Now on to Feelock's house!" Saroe said. This time she led as the three sneaked out of the armory, back into the shadows of the streets. The commotion had died down a little, but it was evident that there were still many guards patrolling. Saroe led Coflix and Link silently down a few streets, until they saw the King's stone house before them. It was really more than a house, and looked like a mix between a tower and a castle. Its tall blackness rose up before the companions, surrounded by alert guards.  
  
buSection 7  
  
Feelock's Favorite Play Area/u/b  
  
"It'll be really easy to get in there, won't it?" Link asked sarcastically.  
  
"It shouldn't be too hard," Coflix said unsarcastically. "Saroe and I have knock-out spells..."  
  
"Here's the plan:" Saroe said, simply assuming the other two would agree with it. "Coflix and I lead away the guards and then knock them out, because if they're knocked out and found next to Feelock's place, everyone will know we're inside. While me and Coflix are doing that, Link, you go inside and knock out any guards you see, and it shouldn't be too hard to locate Feelock's room. When you get there, do your stuff. Coflix and I will make sure no more guards enter the castle from outside while you're taking care of Feelock, agreed?"  
  
"That sounds confusing..." Link said.  
  
"Alright, just go in the castle and beat up Feelock when we lead away the guards! Oh, and make sure you cut off Feelock's whiskers for me!" She added, grinning.  
  
"Give him a bald spot on the top of his head for me..." Coflix said.  
  
"Sure." Link said, laughing. "He'll look pretty funny when I'm done with him!"  
  
"Okay, let's go!" Saroe said, and her and Coflix ran off to get the guards' attention. As soon as they were gone, Link ran over to the tall door, and took out his dagger, wondering how to pick huge lock. He had watched Saroe do it, so he figured he could if he just did what she had; so he stuck his dagger in the keyhole, twisting it around. He tried for a few minutes, but got a little irritated when it still didn't open. He heard yelling far away, and thought, iForget the dumb lock picking!/i He got out the Master Sword, not bothering to be quiet as he completely destroyed the lock with a strong stroke of his sword. It fell, in tiny pieces, to the ground and Link entered the building.  
  
It was lit dimly by torches on the walls, so Link made it a point to watch carefully for guards hidden in the shadows as he walked. The stone building's main hall was twenty feet high and fifteen feet wide, and decorated with paintings and tapestries of cats, wars, forests, and past Kings, all of which had black fur. The hall had a dark red carpet covering its floor, and eventually opened up to a large room with one of those huge, wide staircases. There were three doors at the top of the stairs, and the middle one was the largest, so Link went to that one. He thought it was strange that this cat's palace/house was bigger than the building his throne room was in, but then it was the first time he had heard of a King who didn't live in the same building his throne was in, so maybe it wasn't unusual.  
  
Link pushed open the large, creaking door to find another hall, this one a bit smaller than the last, but decorated in the same manner. The creaking door alerted two guards which had been partolling, and they ran at Link as soon as he was inside. They were a normal guard pair, consisting of one male and one female. The female reached Link first, and hurled an ice ball at him.  
  
"Yikes!" Link ducked just in time, but the top of his hat got frozen. "How rude!" Link powered up the Master Sword and did a spin attack, throwing the female to her back, but not hurting her too much because she had a magic shield. Link then ran over to her, quickly giving her a blow to the side of the head with the hilt of his sword which was hard enough to knock her out, but not injure her.  
  
"You think she's rude? That's no way to treat a lady!" The male cat said, jumping into the air and hovering in front of Link by flapping his wings very quickly.  
  
"Sorry, but I had to!" Link said, almost sorry he'd done it, but then if he hadn't, he knew what would have happened...  
  
"And I have to do this!" The cat said, swooping at Link and trying to stab him with his sharp spear. Link jumped to the side and the cat flew right past him, hovering again and turning around. As Link was turning to face him, the cat flew strait up to the ceiling, and Link saw nothing.  
  
"Huh?" Link looked behind him, then in front of him again, wondering where the calwot had gone. He was about look up, when the cat closed his wings and dropped behind Link, putting his spear up against his neck.  
  
"The King had ordered that we kill the human if we find him...farewell..." The cat said.  
  
"Hey, c'mon...I'm here because I want to make Catalin a better place!" Link protested. Suddenly the calwot had a very curious look on his face.  
  
"You do? Just who are you, anyway? You're strangely brave for a human." Link wondered irritably how many humans the cat knew. The cat leaned his head over Link's shoulder, looking at his face. "Hey! You're that guy who killed the black monster in the calwots' metal mine! There was a shortage of beds when the mine was blocked up because they're made of metal and calwot feather matresses...and we don't want to cut down the trees here to substitute for metal. Anyway, without you I wouldn't have been able to get a bed for my mate to have her kittens on! How can I kill a guy who helped my family? I'll forget I saw you come here...but don't tell anyone, okay?!" The cat took his spear off Link's neck, and went to go and watch over the cat Link had knocked out (the cat was just his guarding partner, not his mate).  
  
"Thanks, pal!" Link said, but the cat ignorred him, as if he wasn't there. Link got the message and kept going down the hall, until he reached a large door. Link knew this had to be Feelock's room, because there was a black calwot painted on it. Link decided that he wanted to catch the cat by surprise, because Feelock would have a definite advantage with all his spells. Link couldn't sneak in because the door would probably make a creaking sound like the last one, and Feelock would know he was there immediately. So, Link knocked on the door.  
  
"Who's there?" An angry, muffled voice came from behind the thick door.  
  
"Room service!" Link called in a girly voice.  
  
"Room service?! What the...!!!" A calwot pushed open the door. "The King did not call any servants or ask for room service..." The calwot, who was Tarisla, the mean tiger-striped one from earlier; stopped talking when she nothing. Link had been hiding behind the door, expecting to ambush Feelock, but was suprised to hear a female's voice and revealed himself. Tarisla was just as surprised to see Link as he was to see her. "YOU!" She yelled in rage, slashing at him with a pike. Link dodged, but as he was about to retaliate, a huge clawed eagle-like hand shot out of the door behind the enraged Tarisla, grabbing Link and pulling him in. Link tried to break free of the grasp, but stopped, staring up surprise whan he saw that a huge griffon held him. He was still fascinated by griffons, but had no time to sit and look at the thing. He started struggling again, but only succeeded in tiring himself. "Heheh...you didn't think there would be just two more calwot guards in Feelock's room, did you? I have the iKing of griffons/i for a guard partner!" Tarisla bragged. "Don't just stand there staring, you big dumb beast! Throw him into a wall or something!" The griffon, excited that it was able to battle something (it had a blood-loving and mind-control spell on it), hurled Link into the nearest wall. Sure it hurt, but it wasn't as bad as when Link had been thrown into a wall by a dragon, and he got up quickly.   
  
Link looked over at the griffon again, which was about as big as a one-story house (as big as griffons can get), and looked like a mix between a panther and a golden eagle with very large feathers around its ears. Despite the creature's beauty, the blood-hungry look on its face made it difficult to admire. It flew at Link, who ran to the side. Just as Link had thought it would, the griffon struck its head on the wall the Hylian had been standing next to a moment ago. The fallen griffon sat up, eyes crossed.  
  
"Idiotic bird-brain!" The angry female calwot yelled. "The King's blood-lover spell usually makes creatures cunning and filled with rage and love for battle...but he must have put a stupid spell on this one!" She ran at Link, aiming to decapitate him with a stroke of her pike, but Link ducked. As the cat dumbly ran into him, he picked her up, throwing her into the same wall he had been thrown against.  
  
"How do iyou/i like it?" Link asked the cat, who was shakily getting to her feet.   
  
"I'll...kill you..." She pointed a paw at Link, and soon some powerful magic wind was blowing him backwards. The big griffon, still a little stupid from its blow to the head, chose that moment to attack. As it rushed at Link the wind pushed it too, blowing it right into Link. Luckily Link was able to get around the griffon before it slammed into the opposite wall of the room. Tarisla growled in irritation and stopped her spell, taking to the air and zooming at Link, who was moving away from the stunned griffon. She reached the Hylian and flew above him, while casting a spell. The spell caused magical ropes to grow out of the ground, twisting around Link's legs. While he was busy getting those off the female dived at him, and Link couldn't duck fast enough to avoid damage. As he crouched the cat's pike made a fifteen inch long slash down his back, and Tarisla grinned as she saw the blood from it. As the cat landed Link twisted around, slashing at her back with his sword. She did a high backflip right over Link, and as Link faced forward again to face her, he froze. The cat's pike was two inches from his face, and he couldn't move back due to the ropes on his legs.  
  
"Drop your sword." She ordered. Link knew he couldn't do that, but the pike was inching closer...  
  
Suddenly the griffon who had been laying in the corner let out a loud moan, getting to its feet. The moan was so loud and sudden that Tarisla made the mistake of looking over at the griffon. Link immediately hit the cat's pike away, hitting her on the head with the flat of his blade. Tarisla slumped to the ground, unconscious.   
  
"Sorry if that hurt, but you know I had to..." Link muttered to her unconscious form, slashing at the ropes at his feet. The ropes started disappearing with their caster no longer able to control them. As the last rope disintegrated, the huge griffon got to its feet and ran at Link. The griffon seemed to have a less dazed and blood-hungry look in its eyes than before, and stopped before reaching Link rather than attacking him. The spell on the griffon, which had not been entirely sucessful in the first place, was broken when the creature had been slammed into the wall by Tarisla's magic wind.  
  
"Who are you, human?! Answer me before I eat you!" The griffon demanded. Even if the spell was off him, he was enraged by the fact that his people were slaves of the calwots, and wanted to lash out at anything in his way.  
  
"Hey, don't be so rude! There's no reason to eat me - in fact I'm here to help Catalin by getting its evil King out of power...which should release your people! My name is Link."  
  
"Is that so? Well I can tell you're not lying...my name is Cazan, Chief and King of the Griffons! Now that I am released from that annoying spell, I'm going to go and save my people, because I'm not sure if a little guy like you can beat Feelock and release them...no offense. See you later if you're alive." The griffon charged past Link, through the door from which Link had entered the room, with much difficulty (the griffon could barely squeeze through it). As soon as Cazan was gone, Link looked around the dimly lit room for the first time. It was quite big, and had a lot of finely crafted furniture it it. The biggest piece of furniture was a huge bed in the corner, constructed of a big nest-shaped metal frame with calwots carved into it, and a huge, soft calwot feather matress, along with some colorful blankets and pillows. The bed was empty, and there was no sign of Feelock anywhere in the room.  
  
iWhere on earth could he be? I'm sure that mean female calwot and Cazan weren't guarding this room for nothing...maybe he ran away. /iSomehow Link doubted that idea, but walked towards the door since there was nothing to do but search the other rooms of the tall castle. As Link reached the door, he heard something drop behind him; and felt the furry hand of a calwot on the back of his neck.  
  
"I knew you would come here, Link...and so you will die." A cold voice whispered. Link felt a surge of energy enter him through the paw, and his body was suddenly unable to maintain consciousness.  
  
"Whoa, Coflix, look out! Cazan looks reeeally mad!" Saroe yelled, spotting the giant griffon down the hall, who was running towards the exit they were guarding with incredible speed born of rage. Saroe and Coflix leaped behind a pillar as the griffon stormed past, wrecking the doorway of the tower.   
  
"My people! It is time to repay the calwots!" He yelled, eager to rip calwots apart.  
  
"Saroe...he doesn't know that the reason griffons have been enslaved is Feelock and his spell on Catalin...if we don't stop him, he'll kill hundreds, and his griffons will kill hundreds more if he manages to free them from the Aviary 'Barracks'! We have to catch him before he reaches that jail of griffons!" Coflix said urgently.  
  
"Way ahead of you!" Saroe yelled over the noise and chaos Cazan was causing outside. Saroe bolted out the door after the griffon, Coflix following. The two flew as fast as their wings could carry them as soon as they were out of the King's castle/tower, but even when Coflix cast a speed spell on them both they weren't gaining on the raging griffon very fast. He was mowing through guard calwots, their injured and screaming forms tossed aside before they could do anything to defend themselves. Saroe and Coflix knew it would be a good thing for the griffons to escape if the calwots were really as cruel as they had been lately, but they also knew the unsusual cruelty of the calwots was not their true nature. The spell on them needed to be removed, not the cats themselves killed, but they could tell that the angry Cazan wasn't thinking about that. The griffon kept running towards his imprisoned people, knocking away calwots.  
  
Cazan reached the 'barracks' before any calwot could stop him, and started ripping at the door (made of the special plant which grows only in the Stalfos Swords and is good for constructing buildings, called the Yetodi plant. Most buildings in Catalin are constructed of this waterproof, tough, insolating plant which is almost as tough as wood). He was quickly making large slashes in it, but a few groups of calwot guards ran up to him, zapping him with spells. Because the spells were weak and the griffon relatively big, they didn't hurt him much, but nevertheless he halted his hacking to attack the calwots. He swept away the ones on the right with a wave of his eagle-like hand, the ones on the left with a kick of his catish leg, and the ones behind him with a sweep of his fur-tuffed tail. There was one unusually brave calwot in front of the griffon, and it stuck its pike into the griffon's chest, making it screetch like a falcon. The wound, although painful, was not serious and the griffon quickly leaned down, taking the calwot in its beak.   
  
The King of Griffons was about to crush the frantically struggling calwot, but Saroe hit the back of his head with a blast of pure magic power, making the creature drop the calwot before harming it. The griffon quickly turned around, its speed surprising, even for a griffon, especially one this huge. Cazan dug his claws into the earth to hold himself firm so he didn't move when he started rapidly beating his huge wings. The currents from the great wings blew the air-borne Coflix and Saroe back. When they were about a hundred yards away from Cazan, he stopped flapping, turning his attention back to the jail door. With a few more strikes from his powerful claws, the door burst open.   
  
Saroe and Coflix jumped back to their feet as quick as lightning, dashing over to the jail door, which Cazan had just busted and entered. iAll I have to do now is destroy the magical orb holding a spell over my subjects! Then those evil calwots will receive their just desserts for what they have done to my tribe!/i The grinning griffon thought. As he came into the 'barracks' all of the griffons started squawking at the sight of their chief. They moved around and strained against the magical chains holding them, and Cazan ran over to the magic orb imprisoning them. He was hit from behind with two rather strong and painful spells by Coflix and Saroe, but ignored them, shattering the magic ball with one huge claw. The griffons ran and flew out of their prison, free and thirsty for revenge.  
  
Link came to his senses when he started to feel some pain from the bleeding slash on his back, and opened his eyes. He had no idea how much time had passed, and his head throbbed painfully. He saw the full moon and some stars through a thin sheet of fog for a brief moment, then felt light-headed and closed his eyes again.  
  
"Come on...you've been resting long enough. Wake up!" A paw struck the side of his face, making him wake up fully whether he wanted to or not. The first thing Link noticed as his awereness returned was the cold wind and very cold stone he was laying on. He tried to get up off of it, but found he was secured to it by his wrists, ankles, and neck. The only thing that really surprised him about this was that the rope on his neck holding him to the stone was not tight (if it was tight he couldn't scream very well, so Feelock left it loose). He ignorred the pain coming from the slash on his back, it wasn't very deep anyway; and looked over at Feelock. The cat was predictably watching him, standing on his right side. As Link turned his head and looked around as much as he could, he realized that he was surrounded by walls but there was no ceiling, and was secured to a horizontal stone table, probably built by Feelock for torturing.  
  
"Well, I guess you got your wish, Feelock." Link said, straining against the ropes holding him to see how tight and strong they were. The thick ropes held fast as Link made a mighty attempt to break them. Link thought if he could put two hands on a rope he might be able to break it, but his hands were tied individually above his head, and like his feet, they weren't going anywhere.  
  
"I sure did, you foolish little rat of a human. Welcome to the top of my tower...my favorite play area. I wasn't counting on having the pleasure of causing you any pain except that of hanging, but you must know I can't resist after you wandered so willingly into my room. You are such a pest, Link...waking up most of my guards so they might be too tired to join the rest of the army tomorrow..." The cat paused, thinking about tomorrow. "Blood...the roars of dying dragon scum..." He pulled himself back to the present. "I also would be too tired to go to war tomorrow because you're keeping me up, but I have a spell which will prevent that - An energy spell! It gives the person it's used on strength and awereness no matter how tired they are, and I might even be powerful enough to cast it on all my sleepy guards, so don't think you've foiled my plans!" The cat grinned. "Au contrar, this will put me in the mood for war! I am incredibly powerful and devastating in battle, and you should be considered lucky for having the honor of getting tortured by me!"  
  
"Your head is bigger than Taig's, Cirokaal's, and Sahoriel's put together!" Link declared. His mind was racing. How could he escape? If he could move he would use Din's Fire, but as he was tied, he couldn't perform any spells (he's wasn't like Zelda, who knew a score of verbal spells that didn't require movement) .  
  
"Do not mention those foul names in my prescence, boy!" The cat ordered, putting a five armor-covered-clawed paw on Link's chest. "Would you like a demonstration of just how sharp these metal claws are?"  
  
"Your claws may be sharp, but you're not the sharpest tool in the shed..." Link said, just to make him mad.   
  
"Why you little..!! How can you speak so boldly, tied to a slab? Let me show you these claws of mine!" Feelock curled his paw into a fist with just the index finger protruding, and stabbed that claw easily into Link's shoulder. Link screamed as the cat drew his finger across Link's chest, not even putting much pressure on the claw at all. The claw made a clean one-inch deep cut, as thin as a razor cut and twice as stinglingly painful.   
  
"Oww..." Link said, grimacing. "Those really are sharp..."  
  
"I warned you. You just had to irritate me, didn't you? If you try to make me mad so I'll hurt you, I'll gladly oblige your wish, human!" Link kept quiet for a moment, trying to think of a way to get off the table and get his sword and shield, which were lying up against a wall to his right. He strained against his ropes again, but knew his strength was not enough without the gauntlets. The only thing around other than his sword that could cut the ropes were his dagger and Feelock's claws...  
  
"Your mind is so filled with blood there's no room for honor. What kind of a coward needs to enslave creatures less intelligent than itself to win a war against creatures that don't even have as many spells as him? The dragons would crush you..." Link thought the cat would scratch him again, and he was right. This time Feelock started from his other shoulder, drawing it easily down his chest. It really hurt and Link yelled, but his plan was to get the cat to scratch his arms, close to the ropes. That way, if he could make the cat's paw slip even an inch..."You can't even cast a decent spell on a griffon!" Link growled through clenched teeth. Blood was running down his sides.  
  
"Silence! My spells can kill a legion of dragons!" This time the cat dug one sharp claw into Link's stomach, and though it was more painful than a knife being twisted in him, Link forced himself to keep silent. "Oh, a tough guy, huh?" Feelock cast a simple one-word spell, and a red-hot 3-inch long blade appeared in his paw.  
  
"Oh crap..." Link said, thinking maybe his little 'tick off Feelock' plan wasn't working very well after all. The cat pointed the knife blade-down over Link's chest.  
  
"Do not insult my magical ability again." The cat said in a low and dangerous tone.  
  
"Your ability...uh..." Link didn't know what to say, so he said something stupid. "Sucks!"   
  
"Foolish Hylian!" Feelock threw the dagger away, in favor of squeezing Link's neck so he couldn't talk. iOh that was bright, Link! /iThe Hylian thought, vainly trying to breathe. iI have to stop insulting him and get his focus on my arms somehow../i.Link gasped as the cat tightened his grasp, watching him choke.   
  
"Ughh..." Link knew he had made Feelock pretty mad, and after a few moments his mind grew hazy as the feline showed no signs of loosening his grip.   
  
"Die, boy..." The cat whispered.  
  
Coflix and Saroe had to use almost every damage-dealing spell they knew as the swarm of infuriated griffons flowed from their prison. Luckily the griffons ignorred the bodies of knocked-out calwots laying everwhere, running for the ones who could defend themselves. A few calwot guards flew to the soldiers' barracks, waking up every last calwot in the military. The half-rested calwots flew quickly to the griffons, trying to use their spells to contain them, but without their King's spells their efforts proved fruitless. The cats then resorted to battle spells and weapon-summonings, and even though many calwots were knocked out, the force and size of the attack began to push the griffons back. The calwots had superior numbers, but the griffons had the advantage in rage, speed, and size, and were not overwhelmed for long. Cazan joined them, and they began to counterattack the calwots. There was a few minutes of fierce fighting in which a few calwots and griffons were knocked out, but neither race really gained an advantage. By now all of the civilian calwots were running from their homes, retreating into Catalin's stronghold against invaders, the metal mines. The griffons were so busy with soldiers they didn't attack the civilians.  
  
A calwot General suddenly sent a huge fireball between the two feuding sides, making them break off the fighting for a moment, but then the two races rushed back at each other, in a surge of feathers and fur. The two sides mingled, and it was no longer decernable who was winning or losing, or even where the most heated point of battle was. The creatures kept fighting in a mass of chaos, but surprisingly no one was being killed. The calwots didn't kill the griffons because the King had ordered them earlier that day to knock the griffons out and capture them if they escaped, and calwots weren't dying because most of them had a spell which would lessen the impact of death blows, merely rendering the enchanted calwots unconscious.  
  
The heated battle raged on, unbeknownst to Feelock, who was busy on the top of his tower. As the cats used more battle spells the griffons got better at dodging, and some quick griffons dodged a few large fireballs aimed for them. The fireballs slammed into a hut (it's inhabitants had escaped to the mines long ago), making the whole front side of it burst into flames. The flames consumed the Yetodi-made building, spreading to another and hungrilly beginning to devour it. Saroe, who was next to the burning building and had been separated from Coflix a while ago, flew up and hovered above the smoking battlefield, exhausted. She scanned the mass of fighting beasts for her friend, but found nothing.   
  
"Saroe!" She nearly jumped out her skin as a voice called her name from directly behind her. "Sorry to startle you, but I just had to hit down a griffon about to tear your back up! You need to be more careful!" Coflix reprimanded.  
  
"Sure thing!" She agreed, happy to see him unhurt. "Let's try to stick together this time!"   
  
"Yeah, but the hard thing is, I don't know who we should attack! If the calwots defeat the griffons, the poor things will just be locked up again; and if the griffons win, they might wait around until the death-prevention spells wear off and kill the calwots! What the heck are we going to do?!" He asked, hoping his usually smart friend had an intelligent reply.  
  
"No idea." She said, dissapointing both herself and her friend. "Hey, do you hear that?" Coflix strained to hear something other than the battle of griffons and calwots below him, and heard a faint far-away roaring...Coflix was usually a calm, intelligent cat, but the war was making him very nervous, and his cool exterior was shattered.  
  
"The dragons are here?!? We're all going to die!" He wailed. Saroe grabbed his shoulders, beating her wings very fast to stay airborne.   
  
"Get a hold of yourself! I think they might actually help! They can't kill the calwots because of the spells, and they wont kill the griffons because they have a common enemy! Besides, if the dragons beat the calwots, they aren't blood hungry enough to sit around and kill cats when their spells are gone, and they'll probably prevent the griffons from doing it, too!"  
  
"But what if the cats' spells aren't powerful enough to prevent death from a dragon, and what if the griffons attack the dragons because they've been trained to, and it becomes a giant free-for-all?! We're all going to diiiiiiiiie!" Saroe watched as the dragons joined the fight, and much to her dismay the griffons fiercely attacked them, while still battling calwots. Needless to say, the dragons were enraged by being attacked by the griffons for no reason, and loosed their rage on both griffons and calwots.  
  
"We're all going to die." She agreed. 


	4. The War of the Kings 8,9

buSection 8  
  
All-Out War!/u/b  
  
Eventually the cat let go of Link, much to his relief. The warrior breathed deeply, beginning to worry that maybe there was no way to stop Feelock. He stared at the stars, as if he would find a plan better then his current one there.  
  
"Wordless at last, boy? Good...the only thing I want to hear coming out of your mouth is screaming." Link glared at the cat, getting annoyed at all his sadistic comments.  
  
"I'd like to know...just what made you so crazy? A cat told me you were good as a child, so why did you run away and return with an oversized brain and an emaciated heart, spellbinding the poor calwots? You'd better do something before this right hand of mine breaks out and punches you!" Link boldly challenged, and Feelock glared at him.   
  
"Choking wasn't enough for you, huh? Let's see how well your right arm works after this!" The cat put his claw on Link's right elbow and drew it across the skin to his wrist, giving Link a large cut and stopping by the rope. As Feelock did this, he was pressed up against the table to which Link was chained, and Link could move his arm just enough to hit the cat's stomach with his elbow. Link did it as hard as possible for how little his arm could move, and Feelock's scratching claw slipped, cutting into the rope on Link's wrist. As the cat realized what he had just done, he tried to grab Link's wrist, but Link broke out of what was left of the rope, moving his hand before the calwot could lay hold of it. Link took Feelock by the front of his armor, and with a mighty heave he threw the cat over him and onto the floor to his left.  
  
The cat landed on his head with a loud thump, and Link quickly used his free (but bloody) arm to break the ropes binding his left arm. After that he had more than enough strength to get rid of the ropes on the rest of him, and jumped off the table, retrieving his sword and shield. Feelock got up, glowering at Link.  
  
"You...I'll spill every last drop of your blood!" The calwot yelled.  
  
"Well, you got off to a nice start but I think your advantage is lessening by the second," Link said, drawing the Master Sword. Blood poured form Link's still-painful slashes on his back, arm, and chest, but he ignorred them, staring into Feelock's golden-yellow eyes. Feelock was about to attack Link when he paused, sniffing the air.  
  
"Smoke? My village!" The cat looked up just in time to see a huge greyish-green dragon soar over his castle. "Those dirty dragons! They planned a night attack! I have no time for you, boy. I will return later!" Feelock opened his big, jet black wings and jumped into the air, trying to fly over the tower walls.  
  
"You're not going anywhere!" Link shouted. He put his sword away and raised a hand in front of his face, two fingers up and two down. A ring of green magic appeared instantly around his feet, rapidly growing vertically and spinning, until it made a small tornado. The green energy-tornado grew larger as Link put more mana into it, and soon it's currents reached the escaping Feelock. "See how you like Sohran's tornado spell!" The swift and powerful winds of the tornado pulled Feelock back into the walls of the tower and finally into the tornado itself, spinning the amazed calwot at an incredible speed. The sharp winds shredded the calwot's wings and began to make slashes and cuts all over him.  
  
"Aaaaahhhhh!" The cat screetched. Link heard the scream and decided to end his spell before he really hurt the cat. As the winds started disappearing Feelock was thrown into a wall by the last wisp of the powerful spell. He was hidden behind the stone table as he fell to the floor, and Link waited patiently for him to get up. Feelock slowly got to his feet, looking more than a little mad. iWay/i more than a little mad. The infuriated cat turned his fierce golden eyes to Link. "You...if you hadn't messed up my guard cats' watching times, they would have been able to easily deal with a dragon problem like this! This is all your fault! How dare you cause my cats to be unprepared for an attack, and shred my beautiful WINGS!" Feelock powered up his fist and smashed through the stone table between him and Link in a temper. He than raised the palm of his paw at Link, in a gesture which looked vaguely familiar..."Lethal Internal Blender!!" He shouted, his rage-filled voice sounding like that of a demon from the eternal pits of the abyss. Link rushed forward, trying to get to Feelock before the slow spell took effect, but a wave of pain caused him to stumble and fall, dropping his sword.   
  
"Eaaahhhh!" Link screamed, feeling Feelocks magic twist around inside him, cutting and breaking bones, and nearly tearing his heart. Yelling in pain, as the magic churned inside him, Link tried to get up but found it impossible. He fell flat every time he tried, doubling over in pain. He couldn't stop himself from coughing up blood from his tremendous internal wounds. Link collapsed in a panting heap when the magic stopped its assault and Feelock lowered his paw. Link gasped for air, but his cut up lungs weren't working very well.  
  
"Aahahahaaa! Little brat...that is what you get...when you mess with me." Link managed to get his eyes to focus on Feelock for a moment, and realized the cat was exhausted by the amount of magic using his new spell required. He had even been forced to suck some mana from the enchantments on the top of his castle (these are enchantments Feelock put on his castle the day he arrived, protecting it from griffons and dragons) to cast the spell. "I can still...reverse this dragon attack...but first I'm finishing you off, you menace of a boy!" Feelock pointed his paw at Link again, preparing to renew his spell. Link painfully reached down into his boot, quickly withdrawing his dagger and hurling it at Feelock with surprising accuracy and speed for his condition. The dagger hit Feelock's paw just as Feelock's spell reached Link.  
  
"Arrrggggg!!!! My PAW!!" Feelock screetched as Link's dagger buried itself up to the hilt in Feelock's palm. Link screamed in agony as the spell began to twist his already bleeding and almost wounded beyond repair insides. Luckily the spell stopped before it did much more damage, as its caster clutched his bleeding paw. He yanked the dagger out of it, throwing it at Link, but was so distracted by the pain that he missed. Link lay flat on the ground, trying hard to put his damaged respiratory system to use, clutching his stomach. Of course the red liquid coming from Link's throat made it more difficult to breathe, and he knew he had to do something before he suffocated from his own blood. The only thing he really had was his pathetic little Arlia plant, which wouldn't help much, if at all. iIt's over...that spell did it, I can't even move.../i  
  
Suddenly a female dragon flying close by smelled all the blood in the tower, and flew to the top, looking into it. She roared as she spotted Feelock, and swooped down into the roofless room on top of the tower, pointing her claws at the black calwot. Grrr...that dragon must have been able to break thoguh my protective enchantments because I drew on them to cast the Lethal Internal Blender on Link! Feelock thought. He managed to jump aside as the small (a little bigger than two cows) red and black dragon landed roughly on the stone. Link, although his vision was rather blurry, thought there was something familiar about that dragon. It came to him as he watched her rear up and strike at the wounded Feelock. This was Taig's friend, the blacksmith dragon Link had seen flyng around at the base of Dracoulis.  
  
"You're Faraws..." Link said in a blood-choked voice. The dragon, having knocked the surprised Feelock to his back, turned at the mention of her name.  
  
"bHow do you know me, wounded one?/b" Faraws asked in a melodious voice as she spotted Link. "bWait...green clothes, blonde hair...courageous and stupid enough to be fighting Feelock...you must be Link! Taig told me all about you!/b" Link nodded and was about to say something, but blood found its way past Link's lips before words could. "bAck! You poor human! I'm really surprised you're not dead, from the looks of you there's more blood outside than in!/b" The dragon ran over to Link. "bLucky for you I started studying healing magic last year, because not all dragons can heal, you know!/b" The dragon put a black, clawed hand on Link's head, and silverish gold magic flowed through his body, healing most of him. Unfortunately the spell wasn't as powerful as the Dragon Queen's, and it could not replace his blood, but it was good enough for Link, and he was grateful for the help. He got up as soon as she was done, nearly falling over from light-headedness, but Faraws steadied him. "bSorry my spell didn't heal you all the way...But just what on earth did Feelock do to you?/b" she asked. Reminded of the cat, Link looked around the dragon to where she had knocked him down. He was standing again, and Link layed eyes on him just in time to see him finish healing himself. The cat turned towards Faraws, pointing a finger at her and chanting.  
  
"Look out! Feelock's casting a spell!" Faraws turned around, but it was already too late. Feelock had cast a death spell on her, and she collapsed without making a sound. "Faraws! Speak to me!" Link yelled at the dragon, running over to her head and shaking it a bit, but she didn't move much. The only movement was coming from her chest as she inhaled and exhaled slowly.  
  
"What?! She should be dead! My magic must be weak because of the Internal Blender...once again iyour/i fault!" Feelock growled, turning to Link.  
  
Sahoriel and Cirokaal hovered over the war of griffons, calwots, and dragons raging in Catalin. Sahoriel made sure her warriors were only knocking out cats and griffons, not killing them, because of the words of two smart calwots. She remembered how at the beginning of the battle the two cats had flown up to her, introducing themselves and claiming to be friends of Link. She could sense they weren't lying, and listened as they explained how Feelock had put a spell over the calwots to make them more violent, so the dragons should try to not kill them. Sahoriel had argued that the calwots were going to fight the dragons before the new King had even showed up, but Saroe had told her how most cats had opposed the war and would have voted against it if the senile old King hadn't forgotten to consult his town before making the decision. Coflix had explained that if the spell were off the calwots they would probably retreat rather than fight, so killing them would be unnecessary (plus most of them had a death shield, but that didn't always work against the strength of a dragon). Sahoriel had reluctantly agreed but Cirokaal brought up the question of the griffons. Saroe said that the griffons were only attacking because they were raging mad and had been trained and enchanted by the calwots to attack dragons. If many calwots were knocked out the evil spell might fade and the dragons would have no reason to war with the confused griffons, so killing them was also unnecessary. Sahoriel didn't know what possessed her about the two calwots' words, but she believed them and took their advice, ordering her warriors to knock out, not destroy.  
  
She considered changing her mind, however, as she watched the battle below her. Griffons and calwots were trying to kill her dragons even though they weren't trying to kill them back, and many dragons had already been seriously wounded. Dragons would start dying soon, and Saroriel would not accept that; she and Cirokaal had agreed to order the dragons to kill if one of their own was killed. All they had to do was tell Windskiyer, who would relay the message to all the dragons in Catalin, and the war would be taken to a new, more bloody level. Sahoriel just hoped she made the right decision at the right time, for it appeared that the dragons and griffons might start losing to the calwots because of the cats' superior numbers and magic skills. Sahoriel knew the tide of battle would turn in favor of the cats soon if her dragons didn't start killing them, but even if they did, Sahoriel wasn't so sure the dragons could beat the calwots with the griffons getting in the way. If something wasn't done, the calwots might very well win.  
  
Cirokaal was hovering next to his wife watching the battle below, and he tensed up when he saw a calwot send a sharp spear flying towards that heart of a small dragon, but sighed in relief as the dragon dodged. He also got worried when he saw about ten calwots gang up on one of the large dragons, but became somewhat more relaxed when the dragon hit five of them out of the air with the sweep of his tail. Cirokaal spotted another dragon, locked in fierce combat with a griffon equal to its size, and almost flew down to join the battle as the griffon bit the dragon's arm. Sahoriel layed a restraining paw on him, speaking to him softly.  
  
"bDon't be crazy, Silov. If you go down there every calwot will come after you, and if you or I die, the moral of the dragons will plummet. Windskiyer is doing a well enough job leading them./b" Cirokaal calmed himself as the dragon who had been bitten hit the griffon in the back of the head with it's tail, knocking the creature out.  
  
"bThey are coming closer and closer to killing a dragon, Silov. I will make killing acceptable for the dragons if they do./b" Sahoriel nodded in agreement, turning her eyes grimly back to the battle. She thought it was strange that no calwots or griffons had flown up from the battle to attack her and Cirokaal, and supposed the reason for this must be that everyone was keeping eachother busy. There wasn't a single spot on the battlefield not covered with angrilly fighting creatures. She also noticed that no one was attacking Cazan, who was hovering over the other side of the battlefield. iIf the griffons kill a dragon, I will kill Cazan first to crush the griffons' moral.../iShe thought darkly. Sahoriel looked down at some bravely fighting calwots, and wondered how they had the spirit to fight so well with their King absent. iWhere is the coward now?/i She wondered, sniffing the air for Royal Calwot blood. iThe frightened cat must have put instant morale into his dirty little recipe for the control spell he put on his subjects. That way he could hide while they spill blood for him...he must be destroyed! /i  
  
She caught the scent of a Royal Calwot coming from a large, black, tower, but also caught the scent of something else: heavy enchantments. She could tell that many spells had been put in the castle, including ones that would kill an invading dragon or griffon instantly. She had thought Feelock was powerful, but the size and power of the spells she sensed were so huge that she wasn't sure even a Queen Dragon like herself could survive them with the distraction of a war. They were also smart enchantments, which could tell the difference between a blood-loving controlled griffon and a free one, and would only destroy creatures coming into the castle, not leaving it. The castle was protected by spells against pretty much every possible calwot enemy...except humans. iWhat ever happened to Link? I can't sense him in this magic-filled village...perhaps he is dead, but somehow I doubt it... But Feelock must be strong indeed to cast such spells on his castle, almost nothing is beyond his power/i. Where had this cat gotten so much power in a mere five years? The Queen could not tell. She sensed something was different at the top of the tower, like something was happening there...but she dared not go near it with her subjects warring below.  
  
Saroe and Coflix fought valiantly back to back, defeating any creature that dared attack their combined might. As Coflix shot a ball of magic energy at an attacking griffon, Saroe zapped an attacking dragon with lightening, making sure the bolt also hit two calwots which had been pursuing the dragon. An especially big dragon came for them then, pushing other creatures out of the way as it made its way to the calwots. Saroe fired a magic venom arrow at it, and Coflix used an ice spell. The dragon tripped as its feet were encased in ice and the arrow hit it in the neck as it fell. The venom knocked out the dragon before it could think, but was not deadly. As Saroe powered up a spell for the next opponent which would attack them, the thought crossed her mind: iWhere is Link? He's been gone a long time...Feelock might have killed him./i  
  
"Coflix!" She yelled over the screaming, blasting and burning of the war, "We have to go help Link! He's been in the tower an awfully long time!"  
  
"That sounds like a good plan, if we can get out of here!" Vicious battles surrounded them on all sides, including above them. The cats tiredly fought on, as the Royal Dragons got closer and closer to unleashing the full wrath of the mighty dragon army on the calwots and griffons.   
  
buSection 9  
  
Faore's Power/u/b  
  
Link rushed at Feelock, determined to cut off those annoying claws, but once again Feelock raised a paw and started chanting a new spell.  
  
"You're going to run out of magic or exhaust yourself if you don't cut that out!" Link yelled as a shining inch-thick ring of magic surrounded his head. The yellow magic ring quickly shrunk, losing size until it was as small as a necklace, and decended towards Link's neck.   
  
"I have enough power for a simple spell like this one. I practiced it so much it doesn't use much mana at all...too bad for you, hahahahah!" Feelock grinned, watching his magic decend. Well, Link could guess what the ring was for, and tried to hold it off with his sword. It went right ithrough/i his sword, closing around his throat. Link then tried to pull the thing off with his hands, but it was already on, and he couldn't contest the power of Feelock's magic with the strength in his arms. He gave that up, and since the ring wasn't very tight he tried running at Feelock, but the cat made the ring smaller, jumping away from Link.  
  
"Sheesh! What's with all the choking? Can't you think of anything better to do to me?!" Link questioned angrilly.  
  
"Of course I can, idiot human, but you seem to hate being choked more than anything else, heheh." He answered coldly.  
  
"Jerk..." Link muttered as the ring got even tighter. It was now starting to choke him a little, and he tried to pull it off again.  
  
"It's just so fun to see the look on your face as you suffocate..."  
  
"You're making me sick! How can someone be so insanely pain-loving?! I think you're worse than Gannondorf!" Link said irritably, knowing Gannon had a million chances to kill him or make him do whatever he wanted by threatening to hurt Zelda; yet, Ganon had never done that. Was there some hidden sense of honor in Ganon or had he just not thought of doing it? Link thought he would probably never know.  
  
"Worse than Ganon? That must be quite an insult coming from a Hylian, so I'll take it as a major compliment! Don't worry, I'll stop choking you...when your heart has ceased its beating, that is." Link was now very disgusted with this calwot, and knew he couldn't let it do this to any more creatures, human or otherwise. He was about to tell the cat what he thought of him, but the ring tightened sharply, making talking very difficult. Link ran at Feelock again, slashing at his chest with the Master Sword. The sword, although very powerful, did not break the cat's tough armor and glanced off, leaving Link in a vulnerable position. Feelock grabbed his arm and punched him in the stomach hard, then delivered a perfect round-house kick to his face. Link was thrown to his back, but managed to keep hold of his sword. He staggered to his feet, still dizzy from loss of blood. He noticed the annoying ring was getting tighter but ignored it, running at Feelock and trying to hit him with a jump slash. The slash was rather slow due to weakness, and Feelock easily stepped to the side as Link landed.   
  
Feelock drove his armor-covered fist into the side of Link's face, and the warrior was hurled to the ground, his sword sliding away from him. Feelock walked up to the fallen warrior and Link pushed himself into a sitting position, then tried to punch the cat. The black calwot caught his wrist and did not realease it. Instead he sent electricity into it, the voltage making Link's whole body shake violently as he was shocked. The Hylian's scream ended in a choked gasp as the ring shrunk a size. The cat let go of Link, who fell over with weak groan, pulling on the yellow magic around his neck. Feelock backed up, enjoying the show.   
  
"What the...?" Feelock was caught off-guard as Link jumped to his feet, grabbed his sword, and thrusted at him. Feelock flew into the air, hovering where Link could not reach him. "How did you do that? Nearly dead one second and fine the next...the stamina of this boy is incredible!...or maybe that was the last bit of fight he had left in him." He pointed a paw at the ring on the Hylian's neck, making it close more.  
  
"Feelock..." Link coughed, "You stinking coward..." Link dropped to his knees as the ring got smaller, almost making him pass out from lack of air and blood. His sword clattered to the floor as the warrior grasped the ring with both hands. "You're too scared to...uughhh.." It was now cutting off almost all of Link's air, leaving him gasping.  
  
"You were saying...heheh....what? I can't hear you, human!" Feelock said, grinning evily and staying in the air, away from Link.  
  
"Scared to come down here...where my sword can reach you!" Link said as the ring closed off his windpipe completely. He fell flat on the ground dizzily, still futilely pulling on the cruel ring. For a few dozen seconds he struggled to pull the thing off, but eventually got so weak he couldn't strain against it anymore. He could only lie still and feel his life begin to fade.  
  
"Scared? I am not scared of anything..." Feelock growled, looking at Link's face as his life was slowly leaving him. "You're just trying to distract me so I'll loosen my magic ring! Well too bad! I'll tell your princess friend how pathetic your attempts to beat me were - right before I kill her!" This caught Link's attention, and he moved his head slightly, fixing his darkening sight on the cat. "You heard me. You don't think I forgot the princess you said 'invited me to stay at the castle', do you? I figured she must be a friend of yours. I'll kill her just as slow as I'm killing you, and your horse, too..." Link, though half-conscious, weakly renewed his efforts to break the ring with both hands. Even he was surprised that he was still awake, but couldn't concentrate on anything but Feelock as he continued to speak. "Not to mention all the people you grew up with, all dead, heheheh...that includes your family too, when I find them...and I will. Make no mistake about it, when I find someone who is related to you, I'll destroy them especially slow. Before I bestow merciful death upon them I will make them beg for it...and lick their blood off my claws after I finally finish them."   
  
That did it. He made Link so mad and filled with desire to protect his loved ones that the Triforce of Courage on his left hand started glowing. Instantly he felt the power of Faore fill him, and he ripped the ring off easily. Link breathed deeply, glaring at Feelock as he picked up his sword. Immediately the Master Sword began glowing with both light magic and green magic from the Triforce. Feelock's eyes grew wide at the sudden and incredibly dramatic increase of power.  
  
"What on earth? How are you doing this?!" Feelock was quite angry, feeling cheated of watching a human die in agony. "All humans will pay for your foolishness!"  
  
"I can't let you conquer Hyrule! Haaahhhhh!" Link jumped at Feelock, who was dumbfounded by how Link had easily broken his spell. The Master Sword gave the cat a large slash (Link was careful not to make it itooi/ large. Even now, he didn't want to sink to the level of a villain and kill a person), the sword cutting through Feelock's armor effortlessly. Feelock screamed in pain as the force of the blow threw him into the wall behind him. The cat got up slowly, holding his chest as excruciating pain made him flinch and yell.   
  
"You will....die....!" Feelock tried to cast a powerful death spell on Link, but found that he had used so much mana that he could not cast any spell at all. iI knew I should have gotten more familiar with the Lethal Internal Blender before I used it! New and unused spells take so much mana to cast it's not funny, and even my incredible power cannot regenerate fast enough to cast a decent death spell right after a new spell...I don't even have enough strength to draw mana from my protective enchantments!/iThe cat then decided to jump at Link and try to slash his head off with his claws. As the cat drew near Link hit him with a powerful stroke from his blade, throwing the cat into the wall again, twice as hard as last time. Feelock slumped to the floor, his awareness nearly knocked out of him. "Such incredible power...how did he do this? Is it love for the humans I was going to kill?" Link walked up to the fallen cat, glaring down at him. "Your power is amazing...but how could it surpass my own?" Feelock questioned angrilly. The cat, bleeding all over, finally understood. "It is your love that gives you power...how can I defeat you?! Someone tell me!!" With two well calculated strokes, Link cut off Feelock's whiskers, then cut off some hair on the top of his head, giving him a bald spot.  
  
"All those things you said...you really would have tortured and killed dragons, Hylians, and even the other races of Hyrule...you really would have watched a human die every day while you ate breakfast, and conquered the world with an army of creatures from whom you would take free will..." Link glared at the cat, full of contempt. He could feel the power of the triforce weaken within him. "You would have killed my brother and friends..."  
  
As Link looked down at him, almost mad enough to kill him, the power of the triforce grew even weaker. Link then realized that his evil feelings were causing this. To access the power of Faore, he needed to be filled with a spirit of protection, love, and of course, courage. The hatred and contempt were driving the power away, so Link discarded those feelings; reminding himself that to kill Feelock was to sink to the level of a monster, and judging him and hating him were not things that Link, as an imperfect person, had the right to do.   
  
"The love that gives you strength is weakening because you hate what I would have done to your country...You almost hate me, but hate would darken your white heart. Still, there is something special about this power of yours, I have never felt anything like it before..." The wounded cat nearly blacked out, but managed to keep himself awake somehow, staring up at Link in wonder and fear. Link suddenly felt pretty guilty for even thinking about killing Feelock, who was so defenseless it would be cruel to stain the Master Sword with his blood. Link made the decision that he was not going to kill the cat, because he could protect his loved ones just fine without needing to take the life of a creature who might still decide to quit being a monster. After all, this cat might not be human, but Link still considered him a person; and Link had decided long ago to never kill a person if it was at all avoidable.   
  
The triforce power grew strong again, and a magic aura eminated from Link's body. Feelock had already been scared, but with this new increase of power the cat thought Link was going to finish him, and his fear made him take action. He reached out a paw, extending his claws as he tried to drag them through Link's skin. As the cat's paw touched Link, a whiteish-green fire enveloped it.  
  
"Aaaahhhhhhhh!!" The cat's ear-piercing scream erupted as the fire consumed his paw, quickly burning it to a point of uselessness. Link watched in horror as the fire started to creep up the cat's wrist, and without thinking, he ordered it to stop. The fire stopped, disappearing in a wisp of green smoke. Feelock, who had been unable to take the pain, fell unconscious. A cloud of purple magic floated up from his body, then vanished in a bright flash. Link heard the flapping of wings, and Saroe and Coflix flew over the wall of the tower.  
  
Sahoriel gasped as the fighting below her came to an abrupt stop. It was incredible, that the war which was raging like wildfire a few moments ago came to a complete and sudden halt. Every dragon and griffon stopped fighting aganst calwots as they all fell over, and even dragons and griffons battling eachother stopped fighting to stare at the stricken calwots. A misty purple cloud emerged from each calwot, even the unconscous ones, and the spectacle was so unbelivable that no one thought about fighting for a moment as they watched the strange clouds. The clouds then vanished in a bright flash, and the calwots got up.  
  
"bThe calwots-/b" The Queen Dragon realized, "bThey are free from Feelock's spell!/b" Suddenly the Queen realized what had been happening on the top of the tower, and where Link was. It all made sense. There was a silent pause in Catalin as the calwots looked around, very confused and not seeming to realize what had happened. They stared wide-eyed at the battle-scarred dragons and griffons around them, and wanted nothing more than to go back to their nests. It seemed like Sahoriel and Cirokaal were the only ones who knew what was going on, but Cazan, surprisingly, caught on as well.  
  
"Griffons! It seems our captors have been liberated from their magic shackles just as we have been! They are our friends once more, do not attack them! We have no feud with the dragons, let them be as well!" Cazan said. Sahoriel smiled, the war was over.  
  
"bMy people! Cirokaal and I order you to leave the griffons alone, we have never needed to fight with them. Also leave the calwots alone, for now they are no longer controlled by a spell or led by an old senile ruler who loves war. They desire peace, do you not, calwots?/b" Her voice boomed loud, and now that the yelling and noise of war was over, all could hear her. The calwots cheered, revealing that they did indeed want peace with the dragons and griffons. Most of them didn't even know why the dragons and griffons were in their village, not remembering a thing since the day Feelock came to Catalin and spoke to them. Slowly their memory returned, and they realized Feelock had put a spell on them and controlled them. Many could feel nothing but anger at Feelock and gratefulness to be free of war and evil spells, but a question plaqued the minds of some of others: who would rule the calwots now?  
  
Cirokaal turned his head as he saw a calwot approaching him. The tiny calwot was Leal, and the cat had a message for Sahoriel, but was far too scared of dragons to talk to biggest one of all. He flew up to Cirokaal, since the dragon was smaller than his wife.  
  
"E-excuse me, sir..." Leal tried to get the words out of his mouth without flying away. "Um...a friend of yours, Link, wants to s-see your wife..."  
  
"bWhere is he?/b" Cirokaal asked, trying to not blow the cat away with his breath or wings.   
  
"B-b...b-by that c-castle over there!" The cat stuttered, pointing at the King Calwot's black tower and shaking. Cirokaal laughed quietly.  
  
"bDo not be so afraid, I will not hurt you./b" He turned to Sahoriel. "bSilov, can you go to the black tower over there? This cat says Link wants to see you/b." Sahoriel smiled and nodded, flying over to the tower. By now the crowd of peaceful creatures had begun to move. The dragons picked up their wounded and gathered under Cirokaal, and Faraws, who had finally woken up, joined them. The griffons picked up their unconscious kin and walked over to Cazan, who was now on the ground, and the calwots just walked towards eachother, forming a big group, attending to their injured and unconscious bretheren. The calwots who were in the mines opened the door and realized the fighting had stopped, so they came out to join the huge calwot group as well.   
  
"It's amazing how these creatures who were trying to destroy eachother a moment ago can be at peace so suddenly..." Coflix said to Saroe. They were standing next to Link and the unconscious Feelock, watching Sahoriel approach (they had lifted both Link and Feelock out of the tower and were now in front of it).  
  
"It just goes to show that they really did want peace. It was the Kings of the calwot and dragon tribes that really wanted war. Now hopefully they will both recognize the tremendous mistakes they made." Saroe replied. Cirokaal, beating his wings to stay airborne over Catalin, called for everyone's attention with his loud, booming voice.  
  
"bCalwots, I have something to tell you. I have been far to proud and it was partly my fault the alliance between Catalin and Dracoulis was broken. I wish to say I am...sorry for what I have done to you. I am sorry for accusing you of taking Taig, as well. It was wrong of me./b" The many calwots below nodded their heads, accepting the apology and forgiving the King of dragons. Some were still a little mad at him, but knew it was equally their own King's fault the war had been started. "bThere can now be peace between all three tribes: Dragons, Calwots, and Griffons. There will be a meeting in two days at Dracoulis, and I would like you to attend, Cazan. Calwots, hopefully you will have found a new leader for yourselves by that time, and I would like that ruler or rulers to attend as well. I would suggest a certain two calwots who prevented the deaths of hundreds, Saroe and Coflix. If not for them, the fiery wrath of the dragons could have wrongfully destroyed the beautiful village of Catalin and many of it's inhabitants./b"   
  
All the calwots started cheering again, looking over at the foot of the tower where the embarassed Saroe and Coflix stood, amazed that almost all the cats in Catalin were cheering for them, as well as the dragons and griffons. It seemed that the new rulers of Catalin had been decided. "bIf you will give me your attention for a moment longer, there is one more thing I want to say. We should all appreciate Link, the human Hero of Time, because if he had not defeated Feelock and broken the spell over Catalin, we would still be fighting now. He traveled here through a dangerous forest and risked his life to stop a war among three races to which he does not belong. Calwots and dragons and maybe even griffons have long looked down on humans, but this night Link stands taller than any of us. Thank you, Link./b" Link, who had been talking with Sahoriel, was quite surprised when the King said those things and everyone in Catalin started cheering for him, even Cazan and the Royal Dragons. Link grew red and put one hand behind his head, waving embarrassedly with the other.  
  
"Aw...I'm not so great...it was nothing..." He said nervously. The cheering continued for a very long time.  
  
Link held onto the huge back of Sahoriel, enjoying the cool wind and the silence of the night. The fog churned as Sahoriel's great body flew through it, along with every other dragon. The peaceful silence (broken only by the quiet rush of wind under dragonwings) was sweet and Link looked up at the moon, glowing faintly through the low-hanging clouds through which he was flying. He reflected on his battle with Feelock, and how Saroe and Coflix had carried him and the defeated King off the tower when their battle was done. He recalled seeing Sahoriel fly towards him after he had asked Leal to get her, and what happened after that...  
  
Flashback i"Sahoriel...I'm sorry but can I ask you a favor? I don't know what's wrong with Feelock, but I think he must have an evil ghost in him to be so insanely sadistic! Can you do the same thing to him that you did to my brother?"  
  
"bLink, I consider you and the King of Hyrule to be my only human friends. Do not be afraid of asking a favor of me. I will try./b" Sahoriel first healed Feelock (except his completely ruined paw, it was impossible to heal that), then tried to use the same evil spirit-killing spell on him she had used on Chain, but nothing happened. She tried again, and still nothing happened. "bI have grave news, Link. There is no evil shade in him. He is who he is./b"  
  
"That's terrible..." Link said, hoping the cat would change. If he did not, Link didn't know what would happen to him. Perhaps he would have to be locked up until he changed his evl ways. Feelock began stirring and woke. He was not afraid, nor did he look confused. He seemed to be sane and solemn as he looked at Link.  
  
"I am sorry, boy...no, you are a man, Link. The awesome power born of your love made me see how far down the wrong path I have been traveling. I have realized the error of my ways, but how can I ever be free of the guilt for the deeds I have done?" The cat looked at the ground with a crestfallen look in his eyes. Link remained silent, not able to think of a good answer right away. "I must leave now. I will go somewhere else in these mountains, or perhaps even leave them altogether. I need time on my own to think about what I've done, and rebuild myself so I can do some good in the world. Perhaps that will help me repent of my sins." Feelock said quietly, his golden eyes growing soft and wet.  
  
"You don't have to leave, Feelock! You can stay and do good here..." Link started to say.  
  
"bLink, it is better to let him go. The time he has spent as an evil calwot has wounded his soul, and he needs individual time to become one again. Do not worry about him trying to kill anything ever again. He will not by his own will, for I can feel that his words are sincere. This is a promise from the Queen of Dragons,/b" Sahoriel stated. Link didn't really know what she meant with the whole 'become one again' thing, but knew she was probably alot smarter than him so he believed her. Besides that he couldn't think very well to argue when the crowd of calwots, dragons and griffons started cheering loudly for Saroe and Coflix.  
  
"Man, they're loud...what happened?" Link asked Sahoriel.  
  
"bSaroe and Coflix are to assume rule of the calwots./b" She replied.  
  
"That's great! I'm sure they'll be fine leaders. When do you think Feelock will return?" Link asked, noticing the cat walk away. Two thin streams of salty water fell from each of the cat's eyes as he left.  
  
"bWhenever he is ready. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be one of the first people he will contact./b" As the crowd turned to Link, no one noticed Feelock take flight on the edge of Catalin, a small, lonely black figure dissappearing into the fog. The volume of the voices reached an incredible level at the mention of Link's name. /iEnd  
  
After all that had happened Saroe and Coflix had helped him find the rest of his equipment, which was at Cimtu's shop as his friends had expected; then Link had left with the dragons. Link was now very tired, and his thoughts drifted away from the past, towards the future and his home. Sahoriel said she would have a dragon carry him and Epona back to Hyrule tomorrow, if the weather was fair, and he would rest in Dracoulis tonight, the place to which they were flying now. Link could barely wait to get back and see his friends, and his brother. The tired warrior drifted to sleep on the thought.  
  
The next day Link and his horse were taken home as promised. The Hero of Time brought with him a letter from all three races' royalty, for peace with Hyrule; as well as two griffons who had decided they would serve in Hyrule Castle as a special thanks to Link. The day after that, the meeting between dragons, calwots, and griffons was held. The first thing the meeting rulers of the races did was name the war they had The War of the Kings, since the whole thing had been started by Kings and ended when the King Calwot was defeated. They then established peace treatys and came up with plans for trading. Saroe and Coflix proved to be a very good team, and were becoming more and more affectionate toward one another. Coflix even playfully called Saroe 'Silov' later in Catalin, which was being cleaned up with help from both the dragons and the griffons. All three peaceful races also agreed on something else: They would all become a part of Hyrule.  
  
How'd you like it? I know the fight was a bit more violent than usual...sorry 'bout that. Hey, I got the pics for this story up! Not on my website, but on deviantart.com. Here's the link: If you can't click on that or something, just copy it and paste it to your browser adress. If the pic that shows up doesn't cover most of the screen than it's a preview. Click it to get it's full size. If you're not a member you can't comment on deviantart, so if you want to comment on my art (please do!) e-mail me or include it in your review, please. Anyway, what do you think would happen if there was an evil plot by someone far away to make an unstoppable army of snakes to invade Hyrule? What if part of that plot involved maing Hylians so violent they'd kill eachother? Find out in my next story... 


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